A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – EVENT MANAGEMENT
- TKing, an online platform to book tickets for concerts and professional theatre shows, raised $15M Series B round from Blue Lake Capital, DCM Ventures, Matrix Partners China, Nanshan capital, and K2 VC (Xianfeng Evergreen). Link
- Tripleseat, a provider of event management solution for restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs, raised $7M Series A round from Level Equity. Link
- Everfest, an online discovery and ticketing platform for festival events, raised $3.6M Series A round from Live Nation Entertainment and ATX Seed Ventures. Link
- Attendease, a provider of event registration and event mobile app solutions, raised an undisclosed amount in a Seed round from 500 Startups Canada, Conconi Growth Partners, and 7 Gate Ventures. Link
- 228.com.cn, an online platform to book tickets for sports, concerts, drama, and other events, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A round from undisclosed non-public investment institutions. Link
- eTouches, a provider of web-based event management software suite, was acquired by HGGC, a private equity firm, for an undisclosed amount. Link
- Insider.in, an online event ticketing platform, sold majority stake to Paytm for $5.2M. Link
- Alibaba Pictures Group, the entertainment arm of Alibaba Group, has acquired a majority stake in online ticketing platform TicketNew. Link
- ePly, an online event registration software provider, was acquired by MemberClicks, a provider of membership management software for small-staff associations. Link
- Conferize, a provider of white-label ticketing solution for events, IPOed on the Danish small cap stock market, Nasdaq First North Denmark. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Delve (2017, London) – Marketplace for experiences related to Food & Drink, Beauty & Fitness, Culture & Art, and Self-Discovery.
LEADER BOARD – EVENT MANAGEMENT
Suite – Business Events
Cvent (1999, Fairfax, IPO, Acq.) – Event management platform for planning, marketing, online registration and mobile event app solutions. Backed by New Enterprise Associates, Insight Venture Partners, and Greenspring Associates. Went public in 2013. Acquired by Vista Equity Partners in April 2016 for $1.6B.
Etouches (2008, Norwalk, $56M, Acq.) – Web-based event management software suite. Backed by Greycroft Partners, Cava Capital, CT Innovations, Argentum Group, Level Equity, and First Analysis. Acquired by HGGC in May 2017.
Certain (1994, SF, $29M) – Event management software providing online event registration, speaker & session management, event mobile apps and event check-in.
Suite – Sports & Outdoor
ACTIVE Network (1999, Dallas, IPO, Acq.) – Cloud-based activity and participation management solution provider for sports & outdoor events. Went public in 2011. Acquired by Vista Equity Partners in a $1.05B buyout in 2013.
Planning – Organizer Tools – Project Management
Honeybook (2013, SF, $32M) – Invite-only collaborative event planning platform that connects event professionals with vendors and clients. Backed by Norwest Venture Partners, Aleph, Carthona Capital, Ooga Labs, and Khosla Ventures.
Planning – Organizer Tools – Venue Marketplace
Convene (2009, NYC, $119M) – Platform that provides conference rooms for training, meeting, official work purposes. Backed by Brookfield Property Group, Arrowpoint Partners, Boathouse Capital, Sunrise Capital, Tamarix Capital, and Conversion Venture Capital.
HotelGG (2012, Shanghai, $25M) – Platform for discovering and booking conference rooms. Backed by Matrix Partners China, Chengwei Capital, and SIG China.
Planning – Organizer Tools – Venue Layout Management
SocialTables (2011, Washington, $23M) – Event planning platform offering seating chart and event management software to hotels and other venues. Backed by Fortify Ventures, Militello Capital, Middleland Capital, Thayer Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and QuestMark Partners.
Planning – Organizer Tools – Vendor Marketplace
Eved (2010, Chicago, $29M) – Online marketplace connecting event planners with DMCs, agencies, production companies, and local suppliers. Backed by MK Capital, Pritzker Group, and Merrick Ventures.
Marketing – Digital Media Promotion
SpinGo (2012, Draper, $5M) – Platform for finding and promoting events through local media sites, web pages and social sites such as Facebook. Backed by Mercato Partners.
Marketing – Experiential Marketing
SplashThat (2011, NYC, $14.5M) – Experiential marketing platform to control user experience during the life cycle of events. Backed by Spark Capital, Maveron, Red Sea Ventures, Ascent Venture Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and Scale-Up Venture Capital.
Ticketing – Enterprise – White-label Ticketing
Events.com (2013, San Diego, $17M) – Suite of cloud-based applications for the endurance market. Backed by Arctaris Capital Partners, La Jolla Holding, and Moore Venture Partners.
Ticketing – Enterprise – Enablers – Dynamic Pricing
Digonex (2000, Indianapolis, $28M) – Develops automated pricing platforms for e-commerce, digital media, event ticketing, physical products, and manufacturing industries. Backed by Emmis Communications.
Ticketing – Consumer – Primary Marketplace – Horizontal
Eventbrite (2006, SF, $200M) – Online ticketing platform for events like book signings, networking gatherings, concerts, festivals, and conventions. Backed by T. Rowe Price, Sequoia, DAG Ventures, and Tiger Global.
TicketFly (2008, SF, $87M, Acq.) – Concert focussed cloud-based social ticketing platform. Backed by Mohr Davidow Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Riverwood Capital, and Northgate Capital. Acquired by Pandora for $450M in 2015.
Ticketing – Consumer – Secondary Marketplace – Horizontal
StubHub (2000, SF, Acq.) – Secondary ticket marketplace for sports, concerts, theater, and broadway events. Backed by SV Angel, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Pequot Capital. Acquired by eBay in January 2007 for $310M.
Viagogo (2005, Geneva, $65M) – Secondary ticket aggregation and selling platform. Backed by Siemer Ventures, Index Ventures, and SV Angel.
Ticketing – Consumer – Re-pricing Marketplace
ScoreBig (2009, LA, $51M) – Unsold ticket selling platform that lets customers select their own buying price. Backed by Bain Capital Ventures, US Venture Partners, Hearst Communications, and Horizon Technology Finance.
Ticketing – Consumer – Metasearch
SeatGeek (2009, NYC, $157M) – Secondary ticket search and comparison engine. Backed by Founder Collective, Technology Crossover Ventures, Causeway Media Partners, and Accel.
Songkick (2007, London, $60M) – Concert listing platform that helps fans track artists for live events. Backed by Sequoia, Access Industries, Index Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Attendee Engagement – CRM
Attend (2013, Boston, $7M, Acq.) – Event management and engagement platform that enables event organizers and sales representatives gain access to event analytics and data from different sources. Backed by 406 Ventures, and Comerica Bank. Acquired by Event Farm in September 2016.
Attendee Engagement – Event Apps – Business Events
DoubleDutch (2011, SF, $81M) – Provides mobile applications for attendees at corporate events, associations, trade shows and near real-time event performance analytics for event organizers. Backed by KKR, Bessemer Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Enspire Capital, Lightbank, Floodgate, and Bullpen Capital.
Attendee Engagement – Event Apps – Entertainment Events
VenueNext (2014, Santa Clara, $24M) – Provides venue management solutions and attendee engagement app for stadiums. Backed by Live Nation Entertainment, Aruba Networks, Compass Group, Causeway Media Partners, Twitter Ventures, and Sharks Sports & Entertainment.
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
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