Buddy Media, which makes software that helps big brands manage their Facebook pages (and other social media, but mostly Facebook), just raised $54 million, AllThingsD's Peter Kafka reports.
The valuation was $500 million and none of the money went to insiders, Buddy Media Founder/CEO Mike Lazerow told Kafka. All of it goes to the company, notably to double its staff (because Buddy Media sells software to large enterprises, it needs a big sales force).
Buddy Media solves a real need in the marketplace: big brands need powerful software to be able to manage their social media presence; for example, Buddy Media's service offers power features like the ability to post in several languages at once.
But there's consistently been questions as to whether Facebook would subsume the service or just buy it outright. Depending on how you look at it, Buddy Media is doing something Facebook should be doing anyway.
In any case, this is a great milestone for a company that seems to be doing very well.
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