The terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, the transaction results in a sale of 100% of Streem shares to Cision and will see the Streem brand and platform continue in Australia and New Zealand under its current leadership team and local staff.
Significant benefits will flow to Streem customers from the global reach of Cision, and clients will continue to receive the same local support, expertise and Streem platform they have experienced since the company’s launch.
Streem came to market in 2017, led by CEO Elgar Welch, a former staffer in the prime minister’s office, and CTO Antoine Sabourin with a mission to provide the market’s first real-time media monitoring platform. Today, Streem is one of the fastest-growing media intelligence companies in ANZ and services the majority of the market’s major government departments, banks, airlines, telecommunications and energy companies.
Early financial backers included Quantium founding director Tony Davis, former ACCC chief Graeme Samuel and ex-Wallabies captain John Eales. The company’s local Board of Directors are Samuel Marks, Karyn Munsie and David Wakeley.
The company’s innovative technology and platform offering resulted in a major recasting of the ANZ media intelligence industry, with hundreds of major brands including Telstra, Qantas, the Commonwealth Bank and the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet moving to Streem in the last four years.
“With more than 100 local staff servicing over 400 leading clients, Streem has grown faster than we ever could have imagined thanks to great tech, strong support from customers and an incredible local team,” Streem CEO Elgar Welch said. “Backed by Cision, we’ll continue to build upon that growth, delivering new tools and products to help communications teams work smarter.”
Cision is the world’s largest provider of communications intelligence, with nearly 5,000 staff across 24 countries. Already active in Australia and New Zealand with its PR Newswire, Brandwatch and Falcon.io brands, the acquisition of Streem adds a full-suite of media monitoring and analysis capabilities that gives both local and global customers interested in ANZ coverage access to a significantly enhanced service.
“Streem has quickly established itself as the customer preferred media intelligence platform in the ANZ market,” Cision CEO Abel Clark said. “Streem’s customers will benefit enormously from Cision’s global reach and we’re excited to be able to offer a full suite of monitoring, distribution, insights and social media solutions in ANZ that both our local and global customers can benefit from.”
Streem will continue to operate as an independent brand with its full-service media monitoring and insights services, and customers will quickly see the benefits of Cision’s global footprint including integrations of Brandwatch’s social data, PR Newswire’s media database and global media content and analytics spanning millions of sources.
Streem CTO and co-founder Antoine Sabourin said the company’s success was driven by a strong focus on solving real-world problems for communications teams.
“Cision’s investment means Streem can keep investing in great people, tech and innovation, resulting in major benefits for customers in the coming weeks and months,” Sabourin said.
Streem’s Management team will continue with the business, and original co-founders Elgar Welch (CEO) and Antoine Sabourin (CTO) will remain in their respective roles.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar 2022 and is subject to clearance by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the United States.
