$2.5m in cash and $1m in Alterian shares will be paid upfront for the Seattle-based company, which was founded by CEO John Song.

A further $7.35m is also payable if the company meets revenue performance metrics between now and March 2013. $650,000 has been set aside for bonuses for specific staff for their efforts in helping the company hit its targets.

The Intrepid deal follows Alterian’s acquisition in July last year of social media monitoring and analytics software firm Techrigy, whose SM2 technology Intrepid is a long-standing user of.

“Obviously, I applaud Alterian’s vision. Together, we will be able to provide a very compelling solution around social media intelligence,” said Song.

“The growth in the adoption of social media has been astounding, yet we’re still just in the early stages. Social data is growing exponentially, and buried within it are gold mines of insights. I believe getting at them properly requires both a robust platform as well as exceptional human effort.”

Intrepid has 40 staff based in Seattle, London and Ho Chi Minh City, where it houses its social media analytics team.

Alterian CEO David Eldridge (pictured) says the Vietnam operation offers “a rich pool of language skills… to help further enhance our offerings in the important Asia Pacific region”.

Commenting on the acquisition, Eldridge said: “Many brands are well award of the need to harness [social media] as a key and integral part of their marketing mix. However, a large proportion of brands do not yet have the necessary in-house skills to use social media analytics to best effect.

“The addition of Intrepid into the Alterian portfolio gives our partners and customers access to an extremely talented group of people with a deep track record in social media analytics and market research.”