Socialbakers gobbles up $26m in latest funding round led by leading London VC

Socialbakers, a social media analytics company from the Czech Republic that tracks online conversations, has raised $26 million (£15 million) in a move that values the business at close to $200 million (£119 million).

The largest investor was Mayfair-based venture capital firm Index Ventures, which has backed over 100 start-up companies across Europe and the US, including Candy Crush creator King and gambling giant Betfair.

Index said Socialbakers is positioned to move from leading the social analytics category to defining the next generation of insight-driven social marketing applications.

Social media analytics is a fast-growing area as an increasing number of companies look to understand their fans' behaviour on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube. Socialbakers' clients include large multinational firms such as Samsung, Disney and Nestl.

Socialbakers, founded in October 2008, claims it has seen rapid growth internationally as demand for insight grows with clients wanting to measure hundreds of social properties spread across multiple platforms, countries and industries.

"Socialbakers has successfully met the demands of an accelerating roster of clients in need of intelligent solutions to better measure, manage and produce social marketing campaigns," said Jan Hammer, partner at Index Ventures.

"Socialbakers is positioned to move from leading the social analytics category, to defining the next generation of insight-driven social marketing applications."

Revenues trebled last year at Socialbakers, which has its largest international office in London.

The company also doubled employee headcount from 150 to 300 last year and plans to expand to more than 400 in 2014 with more than 30 languages.