A HOMEGROWN success story is laying claim to being the city’s biggest and most exciting company.

Digital marketing monitoring firm Brandwatch has revealed plans to appoint an extra 100 people in Brighton this year.

It is understood the firm is eyeing a move away from International House to a prestigious new Brighton headquarters to match its ambition.

The news follows an announcement last month the firm had secured a £13 million finance injection.

Brandwatch monitors social media and analyses more than 80 million sites, including Facebook and Twitter, giving consumer insights to businesses.

It was formed in Brighton seven years ago growing to 15 staff in 2009 and 40 staff in 2011.

It now has six offices including three in America and two in Germany after growing at a rate of more than 100 per cent per annum for several consecutive years.

Some 200 people work the company and it has doubled its design team in recent months.

Some 30 vacancies are already being advertised in Brighton alone while the chief executive said the firm had enough work for another 200 people.

The recent £13 million funding boost was led by investor Highland Capital, with Nauta Capital and other existing investors, and brings the total raised by Brandwatch to £17 million. The capital will be used to hire more people – including doubling the engineering team which is largely based in the city – as well as expanding products in Europe and the U.S. and taking on new regions such as Asia.

Chief executive Giles Palmer said: “Taking on this investment will not only allow us to expand across the globe, but also locally.

“We are now looking to take on another 100 people, if not more, in our Brighton office over the next year – growing to a headcount of more than 300 – as we seek to increase the number of developers in our engineering department.

“We know that investing in engineering talent will help us continue to lead the way in technical excellence. I like to think we’re starting to become Brighton’s biggest and most exciting home-grown company, and something the city can be truly proud of.”