Google Ventures Backs Another Marketing Company, Hubspot

Hubspot, a software company that makes tools for online marketing, has garnered a $32 million series D funding round from Google Ventures, along with Sequoia Capital and Salesforce.com. The firm’s original investors also participated in the round.

Hubspot, founded in 2006 by two MIT alums, offers businesses a suite of software to help them attract more visitors to their web sites and convert those visitors into leads and customers. The tools do everything from help optimize landing pages, to blog, to manage e-mail campaigns, to lead tracking. The company also offers search engine optimization tools to analyze pages; surface and track keywords; and analyze incoming links. It boasts more than 4,000 customers.

Google investing in third-party SEO and SEM tools is interesting but not particularly unusual. The company’s venture arm, established in 2007, was involved in a $5.75 million investment in Trada, a “crowdsourced SEM marketplace,” in June of 2010. It also has a stake in VigLink, an affiliate marketing technology company.

About The Author

Pamela Parker

Pamela Parker is Research Director at Third Door Media's Content Studio, where she produces MarTech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land and MarTech. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager, Senior Editor and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.