As ORM matures, Main Capital backed OBI4Wan acquires competitor Buzzcapture

Large corporations increasingly value the need to closely monitor their online reputation. In the Netherlands, as a social media savvy country, it’s even more vital to keep close tabs on how customers perceive a company. Dutch bred startups as Coosto, Tracebuzz but also international powerhouses (Meltwater, Radian6) battle for market leadership as it matures rapidly. Consolidation was imminent, and hence this week, news broke that Main Capital backed social media monitoring and webcare tool OBI4Wan acquired close competitor Buzzcapture for an undisclosed figure.

Buzzcapture acquired by OBI4Wan

It was announced this week that the Amsterdam based software as a service (SaaS) reputation management agency Buzzcapture has been acquired by OBI4wan for an undisclosed figure. Both organisations offer high end SaaS solutions for (social) media monitoring and webcare. The acquisition will strengthen both companies as potential market leader for webcare and media monitoring.

Backed by Main Capital

OBI4wan, since July 2016 strategically and financially backed by majority shareholder Main Capital, plans to expand both domestically as well as abroad. Charly Zwemstra (Managing Partner Main Capital) “We foresee a significant consolidation in the Benelux and DACH in this growing market segment. The combination of OBI4wan and Buzzcapture creates a market leader in the Benelux region, this is a big step forward to become a leading player in North-Western Europe with emphasis on the DACH region.”

“The match makes a lot of sense”

“The match between OBI4wan and Buzzcapture actually makes a lot of sense”, states Buzzcapture’s CEO Alex van Leeuwen, who will step down at the end of this year. “Whereas OBI4wan excels with the solution for webcare and messaging, Buzzcapture already offers high end tooling and service for monitoring and reputation analysis for years. The joining of forces brings together the expertise, in-house knowledge and development of both organisations. This manifests itself in innovative solutions for reputation analysis and customer service.”

International solution

The opening of a Berlin office offers perspective for one international solution for media monitoring, webcare and reputation management. Both organisations already have clients in Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and other countries. Clients of OBI4wan and Buzzcapture include behemoths such as ING, DHL, VICE Media, Warchild, bol.com, Boskalis, Schiphol, Univé and McDonald’s. With their joint effort, the companies will offer clients data insights, from over 20 million online and social data sources, as well as several offline sources, like radio, tv and print media (newspapers and magazines).

Online reputation management image by Shutterstock