in Canada, Exits, New Brunswick, Startups |

Salesforce acquires Radian6 for $326 Million

This will be all over the news today so I won’t try to keep pace with the commentary, but the news that Salesforce has agreed to acquire Radian6 a Fredericton, New Brunswick company founded in 2006 ,is out.

I won’t try to keep pace with then endless coverage that will be happening, but here are some thoughts on what is cool about this:

  • Ride the Winners: There is no doubt that Radian6 has had a lot of offers over the years. Competitors such as Techrigy, ScoutLabs and Sysomos likely sold out WAY too early. This is something Roger Chabra has been saying to me for a while: When something is working, stick with it.
  • Canadian made: Radian6 was built and financed entirely in Canada by Summerhill, BDC and Brightspark. They funded Radian6 early and they stuck with it. That’s a great and all too rare story.
  • New Brunswick made: When I tell many of you that I have moved to Halifax I sometimes get questions like “is there any startup community there?” or “Is there any talent there?” — Now I have an easy answer to what I have already found out: This region is brimming with talent and with the right leadership great things can be accomplished.

Congrats to the entire Radian6 team as well as Summerhill, BDC and Brightspark. This is big news and a great story.

co-founder of Startupnorth.ca

Published

  1. Congratulations to Radiant6.

    It’s a great thing for Canada when startups, especially those not based in “likely” locations get acquired by the likes of SalesForce.com.

    It looks like SalesForce is building a new platform for developers and publishers. Exciting stuff.

    Congrats!!

  2. 1st off, great to see StartupNorth active again.

    This is a great Canadian success story. We can build big companies. We don’t have to be in the Valley. Great outcome for the company and investors!

  3. Congrats to the founding team and investors! Big win for Canadian entrepreneurship and investment community and government.

  4. Thank you for sharing the news. This is exciting for Canada and the industry. Looking forward to an even brighter future.

    Lauren Vargas
    Director of Community at Radian6
    @VargasL

  5. Massive congrats to the management team and investors at Radian6. I’m so pumped for everyone who was involved here. The founders here were obviously thinking big from the early going and that is great to see. I know that Joe Catalfamo from Summerhill VP and the other investors from Brightspark and BDC made a very early bet on Radian6, and their appetite for risk was certainly rewarded in spectacular fashion.

    …so, what’s the next Canadian, multi-9 figure, VC-backed exit??? :-)

  7. We are absolutely thrilled! We invested early, beleived in the team, vision and potential; and then delighted in incredible execution and timing. Great team, great culture, great timing – a winning formula.

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