Meltwater Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors

Meltwater was acquired by Altor and Marlin Equity Partners for $580M in January 2023.

Meltwater acquisition price

$580M

Acquired by Altor, Marlin Equity Partners · Jan 2023

Meltwater revenue

$575M

Undisclosed stage · Dec 2023

Cumulative funding Meltwater raised

$240M

across 2 funding rounds

Key investors in Meltwater

  • Verdane
  • Vista Equity Partners

Meltwater Overview

About Meltwater

Meltwater is a media, social, and consumer intelligence company that provides an AI-powered SaaS platform for media monitoring, business intelligence, and sentiment analysis across news, social media, blogs, and forums. Founded in 2001 by Jørn Lyseggen and Gard Haugen in San Francisco, it serves global brands including Google, Kellogg's, AstraZeneca, and Publicis Group. The company reported annual recurring revenue of around €500 million as of December 2023.


Founded

2001

HQ

United StatesUnited States

Status

Acquired

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Subscription

Revenue

$575M (Dec 2023)

Valuation

$592M (Dec 2023)

Meltwater Acquisition

Meltwater was acquired by Altor and Marlin Equity Partners for $580M on 18 January 2023.

Before the acquisition Meltwater had raised $240M across 2 funding rounds.

The board of Oslo-listed Meltwater unanimously recommended an intended voluntary cash offer of NOK 18.00 per share from MW Investment B.V., a vehicle indirectly majority owned by Altor Fund III, Altor Fund V and Marlin Equity Partners. The offer valued Meltwater at approximately NOK 5,800 million on a fully diluted basis and represented a 36 percent premium to the last traded price. The offer and subsequent restructuring completed on 9 August 2023, after which Meltwater was delisted from the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Meltwater acquisition details
AcquirerDateTypePrice
  • Altor
  • Marlin Equity Partners
18 Jan 2023PE buyout$580M

Sources: marlinequity.com, marlinequity.com

Meltwater Valuation

Meltwater is currently valued at $592M, based on its undisclosed-stage round in December 2023.

The $65M round was led by Verdane.

Meltwater valuation by funding round

Meltwater valuation by funding round
DateStageValuationRevenue Multiple
Dec 2023Undisclosed stage$592M1.0x

Meltwater Revenue

Meltwater's latest recorded revenue is $575M, as of its undisclosed-stage round in December 2023. At a $592M valuation, that implies a 1.0x revenue multiple.

Meltwater revenue by funding round

Meltwater revenue and valuation multiple by funding round
DateRevenue *ValuationRevenue MultipleStage
Dec 2023$575M$592M1.0xUndisclosed stage

* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.

Meltwater Funding History

Meltwater has raised a total of $240M across 2 funding rounds.

Meltwater's first fundraising round was a $175M undisclosed-stage round in March 2019. The most recent completed round was a $65M undisclosed-stage round in December 2023.

Meltwater funding rounds

Meltwater funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedValuationDeal Summary
Dec 2023Undisclosed stageVerdane (lead)$65M$592MMeltwater is a leading media, social, and consumer intelligence SaaS company that provides an AI-powered platform for media monitoring, business intelligence, sentiment analysis, and data-driven decision-making across news, social media, blogs, and forums. Founded in 2001 by Jørn Lyseggen and Gard Haugen in San Francisco, it serves global brands like Google, Kellogg’s, AstraZeneca, and Publicis Group, offering a 360-degree view of media landscapes. On December 18, 2023, Meltwater's investment vehicle Fountain Venture, controlled by founder and Executive Chairman Jørn Lyseggen, received a $65 million investment from Verdane, acquiring an 11% stake at a post-money company valuation of $592 million (€542 million). Verdane invested indirectly via Fountain Venture rather than directly in Meltwater to gain exposure to its portfolio, including HR firm Jobylon, while partnering with Lyseggen, Marlin Equity Partners, and Altor Equity Partners for future AI-related investments. This followed Meltwater's return to private ownership earlier in 2023 after delisting from the Oslo Stock Exchange in a prior deal with Altor and Marlin. Meltwater reported ARR of around €500 million as of December 2023. The company has raised a total of $125 million across seven funding rounds, with Verdane marking its latest private equity participation. Verdane's Freya XI fund, closed at €1.1 billion, backed the deal to accelerate Meltwater's global growth and market leadership in media intelligence.
Mar 2019Undisclosed stageVista Equity Partners (lead)$175M-Meltwater is a global provider of media intelligence solutions serving enterprise clients. In March 2019, Vista Credit Partners (VCP), the credit-lending arm of Vista Equity Partners, led a $175 million global recapitalization of Meltwater. The transaction was structured as a direct lending investment with VCP serving as Administrative Agent and sole lender, representing a significant strategic investment for the credit division of the software-focused private equity firm. The recapitalization provided Meltwater with capital support and access to Vista's institutional knowledge of the enterprise software sector. As of the time of the transaction, Meltwater operated as a established media intelligence platform serving enterprise customers globally, and the investment supported the company's continued growth and operations in the competitive SaaS market.

Who has invested in Meltwater?

2 investors have backed Meltwater across its funding rounds, including Verdane and Vista Equity Partners.

Lead investors include Verdane and Vista Equity Partners.


Meltwater Investors

Investors in Meltwater by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check

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Acquisitions by Meltwater

Meltwater has acquired 12 companies to date.

Last acquisition by Meltwater was on November 19th 2021. Meltwater acquired DeepReason.ai for $7M.


Latest Acquisitions by Meltwater

DeepReason.ai
Owler
Klear
Linkfluence
Description
DeepReason.ai is an Enterprise Knowledge Graph Platform spun out from Oxford University's Computer Science department. It unifies siloed data without migration, offers decision audit trails, supports AI reasoning over business rules, and integrates with machine learning workflows. London-based DeepReason.ai connects to ontologies.
Owler is a San Mateo-headquartered business intelligence platform aggregating community-sourced data on 15 million companies from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. The service delivers real-time news, competitor analysis, and executive ratings contributed by over 2.7 million professionals. Features include CRM synchronization, trigger alerts for funding rounds, and leadership changes, with offices in Coimbatore, India.
Klear is a social media analytics platform that tracks influencer performance and audience engagement for brands. Athens, Greece-headquartered before its acquisition by Meltwater in 2017, it analyzes data from Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to score influencers on authenticity and reach. Klear serves marketing teams at companies like Unilever and monitors millions of profiles across 100 countries.
Linkfluence is a Paris-headquartered social media intelligence firm powering the Radarly SaaS suite for monitoring brand conversations across multilingual social platforms. It supports reputation management, influencer engagement, crisis detection, and campaign analysis for over 200 European clients including L'Oréal and Renault, with tools for trend research and community profiling.
HQ CountryUnited KingdomUnited StatesIsraelNorway
HQ City
Oxford
San Francisco, CA
Haifa
Oslo
Deal Date19 Nov 202118 Jun 202114 Apr 202116 Mar 2021
Valuation$7M$25M$18M$54M
EV/Revenue
EV/EBITDA

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Meltwater Competitors

Meltwater competitors include listed companies like HCR Co, Shanghai DZH and Wolters Kluwer, and private ones like Clarity AI, SafeGraph and Tresata.

Public and private companies comparable to Meltwater
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
Clarity AIUnited StatesNew York City, NYPrivate--$450M-
SafeGraphUnited StatesDenver, COPrivate--$370M-
HCR CoChinaChinaPublicly listed$75M($3M)$354M-
TresataUnited StatesUnited StatesPrivate--$1B-
Shanghai DZHChinaChinaPublicly listed$123M($545K)$2.4B-
Wolters KluwerNetherlandsNetherlandsPublicly listed$7.1B$2.5B$18B3.1x

Meltwater Public Comps

Meltwater is no longer listed, but its public comps include Plus Alpha Consulting, Latent View Analytics, Cognyte Software, Claritev, CARE Ratings, Happiest Minds Technologies, GlobalData, Spire Global, Finatext and Similarweb.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Plus Alpha Consulting$110M$36M4.2x3.8x12.9x9.4x
Latent View Analytics$111M$27M4.4x4.0x17.8x18.2x
Cognyte Software$400M$21M1.5x1.4x27.6x9.8x
Claritev$965M$466M5.4x5.2x11.2x8.5x
CARE Ratings$49M$21M9.2x9.9x21.5x20.5x
Happiest Minds Technologies$241M$43M2.0x1.9x11.5x10.7x
GlobalData$433M$140M1.7x1.7x5.3x5.0x
Spire Global$72M($40M)5.5x5.1x(9.9x)(13.6x)

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Common questions about Meltwater

When was Meltwater founded?Meltwater was founded in 2001.
Where is Meltwater headquartered?Meltwater is headquartered in United States.
Is Meltwater publicly listed?No, Meltwater was acquired by Altor and Marlin Equity Partners in January 2023.
Who acquired Meltwater?Meltwater was acquired by Altor and Marlin Equity Partners in January 2023.
How much was Meltwater acquired for?Meltwater was acquired for $580M in January 2023.
What is Meltwater's valuation?Meltwater was last valued at $592M in its undisclosed-stage round in December 2023.
How much funding has Meltwater raised?Meltwater has raised $240M across 2 funding rounds.
What was Meltwater's last funding round?Meltwater's last funding round was a $65M undisclosed-stage round in December 2023, led by Verdane.
Who are Meltwater's investors?Meltwater's investors include Vista Equity Partners and Verdane.
What is Meltwater's revenue?Meltwater's latest recorded revenue is $575M (December 2023).
What is Meltwater's revenue multiple?Meltwater's latest valuation implies a 1.0x revenue multiple ($592M valuation on $575M of revenue).
Which companies are comparable to Meltwater?Companies comparable to Meltwater include Clarity AI, SafeGraph, HCR Co, Tresata, Shanghai DZH and Wolters Kluwer.
How many companies has Meltwater acquired?Meltwater has acquired 12 companies, including DeepReason.ai, Owler, Klear, Linkfluence and Sysomos.
What was the largest acquisition by Meltwater?The $70M acquisition of DataSift in March 2018 is the largest acquisition Meltwater has made to date.

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