DURHAM – Just six months after launching, Durham-headquartered Optimere has been acquired.

Optimere formed last December after cloud-based social media archiving startup ArchiveSocial acquired NextRequest and Monsido in late 2021. This Friday, the newly branded company confirmed it has been sold to Kansas-based CivicPlus, a management software platform catering to municipalities and local government.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The fit with CivicPlus is so perfect it just makes sense,” Ray Carey, Optimere chief executive officer told WRAL TechWire. “You can’t market time a perfect-match.

“By joining forces with CivicPlus, it opens up a world of possibilities for our talented and innovative team to showcase their skills as we both ascribe to creating a culture of digital trust for our customers,” added Carey. “Together we offer an unmatched breadth of integrated technology solutions that transform how we communicate.”

ArchiveSocial, after buying two companies, to hire 150 workers, change name to Optimere

The backstory

Founded in 2011 by Anil Chawla, ArchiveSocial grew of a need for governments, businesses and other organizations to create a record of tweets to blogs in the new age of social media. Carey assumed the role of chief executive when Chawla moved into the role as executive chairman in 2019.

Over the years, it raised over $53 million and generated plenty of other news, from landing the Obama social archive in 2017 and later Trump’s tweets in 2021 to securing a $100,000 investment from AOL founder Steve Case in a startup competition.

In 2021, ArchiveSocial acquired NextRequest and Monsido after experiencing a “record year” with $30 million in annual recurring revenue, adding 1,400 customers and 120 new employees.

It relaunched as Optimere last December with 6,000 customers globally.

Carey said the acquisition will allow for even further growth globally with a combined headcount of around 900 employees spread across close to a dozen offices, including Durham and Raleigh. “We continue to hire in all departments,” he said.

Carey will now serve as president of Compliance Solutions at CivicPlus and will report to Brian Rempe, CivicPlus’s CEO. The other members of the executive team will be joining CivicPlus as well.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Optimere’s employees, customers, and partners to CivicPlus,” Rempe said in a statement. “The addition of its transparency, compliance, and accessibility solutions will help build resident trust in government at every level and touch point. Together we will reimagine the civic experience.”

Durham’s ArchiveSocial lands $53M investment for its social media archiving expertise