HootSuite Strikes Deal with City of Vancouver for Bigger Head Office

Even CEO Ryan Holmes thinks his company’s offices suck right now. But in 2013, that will finally change.

HootSuite has struck a deal with the City of Vancouver that will see the Canadian startup move into a larger head office early next year. The fast-growing social media company is bursting at the seams, having more than doubled from less than 100 employees last year to well over 200 today.

The City and HootSuite have signed an “innovative” agreement to lease new office space at 5 East 8th Avenue with an option for ownership. The two-storey, City-owned building contains over 33,000 square feet of office space and is valued at nearly $10 million.

“Vancouver has a booming digital media sector, and there is no better example of that than HootSuite,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The rapid growth of HootSuite provided us with a good-news challenge: how to accommodate a local company that is seeing rapid growth. I’m very pleased we could enable a deal that will see an expanded HootSuite head office in Vancouver.”

“Since we first started HootSuite in Railtown in 2008 as a part of Invoke, we’ve been proud to call Vancouver our home,” said Ryan. “The city’s digital media sector is strong and continues to grow, and we’re excited to have found a new location that allows us to stay and expand here. We’ve had strong support from the City and look forward to continuing to build out our Vancouver presence.”

As part of the city’s comprehensive Economic Action Strategy spearheaded by the Vancouver Economic Commission, Mayor Robertson is focused on attracting and retaining skilled technology industry talent in Vancouver and accelerating growth in innovative sectors such as digital media.

The fast-growing tech sector in British Columbia is centred in Vancouver and currently employs over 80,000 people, representing more jobs than in the forestry, mining and the oil and gas industries combined. There are an estimated 1,150 digital media companies in BC, employing approximately 16,500 skilled workers and generating revenues of $3 billion.

HootSuite says it receives an average of 650 resumes per month.