Vancouver-based HootSuite Media Inc. has announced what it's calling one of the biggest Canadian venture-capital deals of the decade.

OMERS Ventures is buying a $20-million stake in the social-media-management-system company through a secondary purchase from an existing shareholder.

“The OMERS Ventures investment marks a new milestone in the growth of HootSuite. We’re extremely proud of our company’s trajectory, from a modest beginning three years ago to our current global leadership position. We look forward to working with the experienced team at OMERS Ventures as we continue to deliver world-class social media management, marketing, and analytics product offerings to our customers,” Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite, said in a news release today (March 29).

OMERS Ventures is an investment arm of the $55-billion Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System pension fund.

Founded in 2008, HootSuite is the company behind a popular platform that allows people and organizations to manage accounts on multiple social-media services, such as Twitter and Facebook.

According to the company, one billion messages have been sent out using the HootSuite platform.

Vancouver interactive agency Invoke Media originally launched HootSuite in November 2008 as BrightKit.

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