Investment Thesis : Event Technology

Investment Thesis &
Opportunities
Exploring the Event Tech industry –
Live engagement solutions
Wong Hoong Chun
Whoongchun@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/hoongchunwong/

• Market Intelligence
• Thesis scopes and supports
• Startup of interests
Table of Content

The Big Idea:
Internet has shifted the way individuals and businesses engage throughout events journey.
This trend coupled with rise in user generated data creates a unique opportunity for event tech
solutions that can provide seamless and inclusive experience to event consumers.
Non-Attendee Engagement
While non-attendees are not present in
person at the live event, it doesn’t mean
they aren’t interested in what’s happening.
How might face-to-face program integrate
technology and social media applications to
emulate “experience” and engagement of
onsite, before, during and after the event?
Live Data is the new type of data
From digital & historic dataset to live provides
face-to-face meeting and event insights of event
consumers to uncover new trends around the globe.
Yet, its potential remains unrealized in the event
industry.
Event Tech
Experiential Trade Show
Currently, the emphasis is being placed on
the attendees’ experience of the trade show,
the question arises as to what that
experience should be.
How might (we) organiser increase the
experience of engagement on the show
floor?
Friedman, F. (2017). Future Trends Impacting the Exhibitions and Events Industry. Iaee.com.
Doubledutch.me. (2017). doubledutch's live event engagement benchmark report-2017.

Event Tech
Only 20% of event professionals
and marketers are reasonably satisfied with their ability to
measure the ROI of event marketing investments.
Eventresources.doubledutch.me. (2017). DoubleDutch Live Engagement Platform Overview.
Eventbrite.com. (2017). Event Industry Report 2017
Supply Side:
Event Industry’s Problem Statements:
Market Intelligence Value Proposition
Thesis scopes and
supports
Startups of Interest

Event Tech
Event Promotion Fund Raising Registration Collateral Networking Q & A Post Event
Handing
street flyer
Social Media,
email etc
Physical donation
collection
URL or
Text Code
Email/Excel
Dashboard/QR
Code
Paper-based
brochures
App-based/PDF
Talking to
wrong people
Connecting
right question to
right person
Time spent on wrong/
little questions
Targeted
Audiences
DYI OTOT Link-
based survey
On-the spot
paper-based
survey
Eventbrite UK Blog. (2017). How Tech Transformed Events [Infographic] - Eventbrite UK Blog].
Event User Journey: Past & Present
GAP for during-
show components
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
The Live Engagement Life Cycle
The Live Engagement Management (LEM) Life Cycle:
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Validated Use Cases:
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Demand Side:
User Demographics :
Thesis scopes and
supports
Startup of Interest

Event Tech
LEM Live Content Strategies
Offline
• Mainstage Presentations
• Breakout Sessions
• Breaks
• Happy Hours
Informative
• Agenda/Session
• Speakers
• Sponsor/Exhibitor
• Documents
• Attendee Profile
• Custom Content
Responsive
• Polling
• Survey
• Push Notification
• Promotion Posts
Interactive
• Activity Feed
• Live Q & A
• Session Channels
• Topic Channels
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Live Engagement Signals:
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
This Thesis is Predicted on 5 assertions:
• The spread of mobile applications, social media & wearable technologies will give
rise to a large amount of user generated data to support event engagement journey.
• Bespoke products for consumers are in the interests of the event organisers, sponsors
and business to drive commercial intentions.
• Accessibility of event resources will be routed to targeted audience/individuals on-
demand.
• Enable event professionals, business and consumers access cross-event platforms
through a single middleware technology.
• Live engagement journeys and live engagement data will aggregate event marketing
from tactical, experiential, digitised, integrated and lastly social level. Turning passive
attendees to active participants.
Therefore, there is a tremendous investment
opportunity in early-stage startups addressing
the needs of new generation of event
consumers – providing data-driven and live
engagement event tech solutions.
Thesis scopes and
supports
Startup of Interest

Event Tech
This thesis define event tech as interactions of user-generated data, analytics, experiential & specific
marketplace that provide users access to obtain information or knowledge.
Technologies that abide by this definition may be prospecting/ post-relationship tool, data analytics
platforms, physical/ virtual marketplaces, and tech-enabled experiential solutions that address the fast
paced needs of the 21st event professional, businesses and consumers.
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Event Management Software Market worth 11.06 Billion USD by 2022
• Highest Growth Rate:
 APAC region
• Gain A Larger Market Share:
 Corporate end-user segment
 Large enterprises segment
94% of event professionals and 45% of businesses will use event tech
to increase audience and influencer engagement respectively.
86% of event planner use mobile apps for entire event journey.
94% of attendees use of mobile event apps
25% of event professionals integrate apps during their events
Eminence Events Pte Ltd. (2017). What 2016 Event Management Trends Should You Try Out? - Eminence Events Pte Ltd.
Marketsandmarkets.com. (2017). Event Management Software Market worth 11.06 Billion USD by 2022.]
2016:
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Thesis scopes and
supports
Eventbrite.com. (2017). Event Industry Report 2017

Event Tech
Market Trends
New way of (precision)
event marketing
Streamlining
event organization VR/AR
Wearable
Technology
Live
Streaming
Morpus, N. (2016). 5 New Event Tech Trends [Infographic] - Capterra Blog.
Digitell Inc. (2017). 10 Reasons Why You Should Live Stream Your Event - Digitell Inc
Mobile
Application
- Engage/increased attendees
- Target dormant members
- Create virtual community
- Remote Speaking
- Archive Your Event
- Increase Revenue/ Decrease Costs
- Increase User Experience
- Valuable Information
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Value Proposition:
The value proposition of this thesis can be defined by access & actionable analytics, wherein data offers guidance on
uplifting experiential show, live event engagement, end-to-end solutions & mobile app-enabled events platform
As an example, Double Dutch
has a built a live engagement
platform capture and surface
data from live events and
conferences. Through that
unearth new fashion trends
from live user-generated data.
While Picatic adopted a
crowdsourcing event model
(experiential to social level) by
allowing promoters to create
event pages with artist and
venue, letting fans pay before
the event is actually booked.
Lastly, Cvent provides an end-to-end
platform for the entire event lifecycle
from start to finish. (e.g. finding
unique venues, managing budget and
hosting online registration to
engaging attendees onsite and
measuring event impacts.
Cvent.com. (2017). Online Event Management Software | Cvent Singapore.
Thesis scopes and
supports

Startups of Interests
Attendify, Glisser, Grip

Event Tech
Attendify: Significant Achievement & Opportunities:
• Proposition simplification
• Open API for software integrations.
• Launched of lead retrieval to bridge social
details between exhibitor and attendees.
• Dashboard-enabled set and control within a
single app.
• First mover to provide data management for
event industry.
• Launched of APAC office ind
icating regional upcoming activities.
Investment Conclusion:
Multiple validated use cases and still financed at
seed stage. Information are sufficient to prompt
informal due-diligence.
Overview: Attendify, a mobile app, enables event companies to create their own event
apps for attendees to view profiles, messages, photos and network in minutes. Measure
event performance and ROI.
Total Financing: USD $2.1M
Traction:
• Tier 1 tech firms, universities, professional & financial services etc.
• Expands to APAC with Australian office | first-mover data management platform for
event industry.
Founder:
Michael Balyasny; CEO & Founder (support@attendify.com)
• Uni of South California, BA in International Relations
• VP of Marketing & BD , 3 years online media agency
Alexey Kachayev; CTO
• Ukrainian Academy of Banking; Master in Banking
• PHP/Software developer.
Eventbrite UK Blog. (2017). 7 Event Tech Startups to Watch This Year - Eventbrite UK Blog.
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Glisser: Significant Achievement & Opportunities:
• Opened offices in NYC and Seattle and deliver
24 hour support indicating growing activities.
• Working with Microsoft on their AI APIs to
deliver a new set of features designed for global
organisations running both live and virtual
meetings.
• Developing product to serve education
marketplaces and signed up UK and US
University clients.
seed stage. Information are sufficient to prompt
informal due-diligence.
Overview: Glisser’s audience response system that shares presentation slides to
smartphones in real-time and uses polling and Q&A to make events interactive.
Total Financing: USD $1M
Traction:
• 100 enterprise customers (Amex, Visa, Bloomberg and etc), government
departments. 10,000 presenters are signed up and using its software dated 2016.
• Graduated from Microsoft London Accelerator.
Founder:
Michael Piddock; CEO & Founder (Michael.Piddock@glisser.com )
• Oxford University, MA Economics & Management
• 10+ years in marketing experiences | Investor role in VC firms.
Sammy Deveille; CTO
• University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambresis, Master in ICT
• Software/Web Engineer
Thesis scopes and
supports

Event Tech
Grip: Significant Achievement & Opportunities:
2016:
• Product used at events attended by over 15,000
2017:
• Expected 500% growth from attendees in 2016.
• Signed up product implementations with some of
the biggest exhibition organisers such as Reed
Exhibitions, Clarion Events, ITE Exhibitions etc.
seed/angel stage. Information are sufficient to
prompt informal due-diligence.
Overview: Grip, AI powered event networking solution that empowers professionals to
achieve their maximum networking potential at events.
Total Financing:
Undisclosed seed and angel rounds.
Traction:
Product tested with 6 event organisers.
Founder:
Tim Groot; CEO & Founder (online contact portal)
• (Tier 2 University, BBA & International Management
• No relevant event experiences
Ivan Lian; CTO
• -King College London, MSc Intelligent System; Leichester Univerisity, BSc CS
• Service Engineer & Manager; Yahoo
Thesis scopes and
supports

Conclusion:
The future of Event Tech is at an exciting point. Along with event industry, event tech
innovation will begin to democratise empowering from the social & user communities.
I hope our paths intersect in the future to build companies that change the way every event
affiliated individuals & businesses to grow in the next 30 years.
Event Tech
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and professional experience,
please check out my profile here
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Investment Thesis : Event Technology

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