About Cision
Cision is a Media & Entertainment company based in Chicago (United States) founded in 1867 by Brandon Crawley, and was acquired by Platinum Equity in October 2019. Cloud-based PR platform is provided for business media management. It operates in the Media & Entertainment and Technology sectors. Cision has raised $2.97 million across 9 funding rounds from investors including European Union, Edison Partners and GTCR Chicago Private Equity Firm. The company has 1,407 employees. Cision has completed 15 acquisitions, including Argus de la Presse, Brandwatch and Bulletin Intelligence. Its chief executive, as recorded, is Abel Clark. Its website cision.com draws about 731 thousand monthly visits. Cision offers products and services including CisionOne, PR Newswire, and Brandwatch. Its focus areas include Enterprise Applications, PR Tech, PR Suite and MarketingTech. Its legal entity is Cision US Inc. Its competitors include Sprout Social, Meltwater and Onclusive; 2 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Cloud based PR platform for businesses. It provides PR software, media distribution, and communications solutions that enable businesses to effectively manage public relations and earned media strategies. It allows users to monitor news, social media, and online conversations about brands and industries. It offers features for managing PR workflows, team collaboration, and campaign planning.
- Headquarters Chicago, United States
- Employees 1,407
- Founders Brandon Crawley
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsMedia & EntertainmentTechnology
- Website category Computers Electronics and Technology · Programming and Developer Software
- Email••••••••
- Phone•••• ••••
- Website cision.com
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook Instagram
- Acquired by Platinum Equity (Oct 2019)
- Legal Name Cision Us Inc.
- Net Profit-$24.39 M (USD)80as on Dec 31, 2018
- EBITDA$69.62 M (USD)83as on Dec 31, 2018
- Total Equity Funding$2.97M (USD)
in 9 rounds
- Latest Funding Round$760.76K (USD), Grant
Mar 2022
- InvestorsEuropean Union
& 3 more
- Employee Count1,407
- Investments & AcquisitionsArgus de la Presse
& 14 more
- Acquired by
Products & Services of Cision
Cision offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including CisionOne, PR Newswire, and Brandwatch.
All-in-one tool for media monitoring and PR analytics.
Service for distributing press releases and content.
Platform for consumer intelligence and social listening.
Funding Insights of Cision
Cision has successfully raised a total of $2.97M across 9 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Grant round of $760.76 thousand completed in March 2022. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $2.97M
- Total Rounds 9
- Last Round Grant — $760,761
- First Round $2M
(Jun 2000)
- Investors Count 2
All 9 funding rounds of Cision with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2022 | $760,761 | Grant | – | – | |
| Feb 2022 | $292,621 | Grant | – | – | |
| Feb 2021 | $157,580 | Grant | – | – | |
| Feb 2019 | $128.32M | Post-IPO | – | – | – |
| Aug 2017 | $1.33B | Debt – Conventional | – | – | – |
| Oct 2013 | $1.72M | Series A | – | – | – |
| Feb 2013 | $250,000 | Seed | – | – | – |
| Mar 2012 | $1M | Seed | – | – | – |
| Jun 2000 | $2M | Unspecified | – | – |
4 investors in total: 4 institutional.
Investors in Cision
Cision has secured backing from 4 investors, including institutional and venture fund investors. Prominent investors backing the company include European Union, Edison Partners and GTCR Chicago Private Equity Firm.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Provider of a growth equity firm for adaptive and personalized plans | edisonpartners.com | Princeton, United States | ||
Private equity investments and firm management in Chicago. | gtcr.com | |||
Platinum Equity is engaged in private equity and credit investments. | platinumequity.com | Beverly Hills, United States | ||
Government entites focused on freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law, promoting peace and stability | 1958 | europa.eu | Brussels, Belgium |
Investor details for Cision
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
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- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
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People of Cision
596 people are tracked at Cision (176 in leadership, 8 in board & advisors, 412 in team); the tracked headcount is 1,407.
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Brandon Crawley | Founder | Leadership |
Abel Clark | CEO | Leadership |
Erun Fernando | Director Of Product Management - Cisionone Platform Lead | Leadership |
Msis Kevin McFarlane | Director Of Technology - Distribution Services | Leadership |
Chris Kim | Chief People Officer | Leadership |
Meg Quigley | Director Internal Communications | Leadership |
Silvia Brito | Finance Director | Leadership |
Christine Serkedakis | Head Of Global Treasury And North American Otc | Leadership |
Michael Fitzpatrick | Global Tax Director | Leadership |
Aly Rajabali | Senior Director Information Technology | Leadership |
Charles E Vanek | Sr. Director Distribution Engineering | Leadership |
Jobi Lopez-Biado | Enterprise Director | Leadership |
Brandon Chia | Account Director | Leadership |
Anson W. | Strategic Account Director - Western Canada | Leadership |
Catherine Manton | Head Of Strategic Accounts | Leadership |
Dom West | Head Of Strategic Sales | Leadership |
Greg Perry | Enterprise Account Director | Leadership |
Georgie Griffiths | Account Director | Leadership |
Frank Chiang | Enterprise Account Director | Leadership |
Suman M | Director Of Engineering | Leadership |
576 more people are available in the full profile.
Complete people profiles for Cision
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
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Investments & Acquisitions by Cision
Cision has strategically engaged in corporate development activities, having acquired 15 companies. Notable acquisitions include Argus de la Presse, Brandwatch and Bulletin Intelligence.
| Company Name | Description | Domain | Location | Founded | Acquired | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Consumer insights are delivered through a cloud-based market research platform. | trajaan.io | Paris, France | 2020 | Dec 2025 | •••• | |
AI and SaaS-driven platform offering content moderation and management solutions | factmata.com | London, United Kingdom | 2016 | Nov 2022 | •••• | |
Real-time media monitoring and insights are delivered across multiple channels. | streem.com.au | Sydney, Australia | 2014 | Dec 2021 | •••• | |
Social media intelligence and analytics solutions are provided to businesses. | brandwatch.com | Brighton, United Kingdom | 1999 | Feb 2021 | $450M | |
Earned media impact is measured via PR analytics platform. | trendkite.com | Austin, United States | 2012 | Jan 2019 | $225M | |
Social media marketing platform | falcon.io | Copenhagen, Denmark | 2010 | Jan 2019 | •••• | |
Platform for brands to manage visual content strategy | shareiq.com | Berlin, Germany | 2014 | Jul 2018 | •••• | |
Media monitoring and analytics are provided across multiple channels. | prime-research.com | New York, United States | 1990 | Dec 2017 | •••• | |
Media relations, monitoring, and intelligence solutions are provided. | argus-presse.fr | Paris, France | 1879 | Jun 2017 | $10.09M | |
Open source intelligence solutions are provided via data analytics services. | bulletinintelligence.com | Reston, United States | 1990 | Mar 2017 | •••• |
Complete acquisition details for Cision
Acquired stakes, deal sources and the complete acquisition history require an active premium plan.
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- Deal sources
- Complete history
- Exports
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Timeline of Cision
15 dated milestones of Cision across 158 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Cision is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $2.0M.
- Exit Acquired by GTCR.
- Acquisition Acquires Bulletin Intelligence.
- Acquisition Acquires Argus de la Presse.
- Acquisition Acquires PRIME Research.
- Acquisition Acquires ShareIQ.
- Acquisition Acquires Falcon.io.
- Acquisition Acquires TrendKite.
- Exit Acquired by Platinum Equity.
- Acquisition Acquires Brandwatch.
- Acquisition Acquires Streem.
- Funding Latest funding round, Grant, of $761K.
- Acquisition Acquires Factmata.
- Acquisition Acquires Trajaan.
Competitors of Cision
Cision has 3 listed competitors in our database, 2 of them funded. They include Sprout Social, Meltwater and Onclusive.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sproutsocial.com | 2009 | Chicago, United States | $101.5M | 1,383 | Social media management and insights are provided for brands. | |
| meltwater.com | 2001 | San Francisco, United States | 1 | Cloud-based social media monitoring and analytics are offered for businesses. | ||
| onclusive.com | 2007 | Burlingame, United States | $24.42M | 22 | AI based tools for PR management |
Detailed competitors of Cision
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
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Web traffic of Cision
The website of Cision (cision.com) receives about 730.7K visits a month and ranks #78,594 among all websites worldwide, #9,267 in Programming and Developer Software.
- Monthly visits730.7K
▲ 10.8% vs previous month
- Unique visitors322.7K
per month
- Global rank#78,594
among all websites
- Category rank#9,267
Computers Electronics and Technology · Programming and Developer Software
- Bounce rate56%
- Pages per visit2.7
- Average visit1 min 30 sec
- DevicesDesktop 52% · Mobile 48%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Cision. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vocus.com | 100% | View details | |||
refinedwiki.com | refinedwiki.com | 91% | – | ||
| github.com | 88% | 542.6M | #65 | View details | |
| getadblock.com | 83% | #487 | View details | ||
| matomo.org | 82% | 278.8K | #166,866 | View details | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Cision
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 40 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
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Top companies in Advertising & Marketing Tech
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Cision (Advertising & Marketing Tech) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AI-powered platform manages marketing creatives and customer journeys. | 1982 | San Jose, California, United States | USD 23.77 B | 30,710 | ||
Ad verification solutions are delivered for digital media campaigns. | 2008 | New York, New York, United States | USD 396.5 M | USD 748.29 M | 1,200 | |
Native advertising solutions are delivered via a cloud-based content platform. | 2006 | New York, New York, United States | USD 403.72 M | USD 1.3 B | 1,800 |
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Related news about Cision
Complete news archive for Cision
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Frequently Asked Questions about Cision
Cision was founded in 1867 and raised its 1st funding round 133 years after it was founded.
Cision is headquartered in Chicago, United States. It is registered at Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Abel Clark is the CEO of Cision, as recorded in our data.
Cision is a funded company, having raised a total of $2.97M across 9 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Unspecified of $2M, raised on Jun 2000.
Cision has 1,407 employees.
Cloud based PR platform for businesses. It provides PR software, media distribution, and communications solutions that enable businesses to effectively manage public relations and earned media strategies. It allows users to monitor news, social media, and online conversations about brands and industries. It offers features for managing PR workflows, team collaboration, and campaign planning.
Cision's top competitors include Onclusive, Sprout Social and Meltwater.
Cision offers CisionOne, PR Newswire, and Brandwatch.
Cision has made 15 acquisitions, including Argus de la Presse, Brandwatch, and Bulletin Intelligence.
Cision has 4 investors. Key investors include European Union, Edison Partners, GTCR Chicago Private Equity Firm, and Platinum Equity.
Cision operates through Cision Us Inc..
Yes. Cision was acquired by Platinum Equity in October 2019.