EventTech Event technologies Application of technologies in organizing events

2022: How the market for aggregators of venues for events will develop

The events of recent years have greatly influenced people's consumption habits content and attitudes towards offline events. Despite the fact that "online" turned out to be a convenient format, brands recognize the importance of event-marketing and the value of live communication. The event industry is still a sought-after destination for product, brand or service promotion. There are many advantages of offline: from effective positioning of brands using advanced digital technologies and current collaborations to networking and professional development. Choosing the right location remains a key issue, and aggregator platforms are designed to help. How they work, how they differ from each other and how they attract investment - in a new study. Innovation Agencies of Moscow

Site aggregators are platforms that allow you to select locations and services for events. By functionality, they are classified into traditional and new generations.

Non-specialized platforms with the simplest functionality prevail in Russia

Traditional aggregators collect information about existing sites and services. Among them, three categories are distinguished:

• Information portals that allow you to search for venues for events, comparing them by key parameters, but do not allow you to directly book and pay for the venue through the aggregator.
• Search engines of sites. They help to select, book and pay for the site directly on the platform.
• Search engines of sites and services. In addition to searching and booking the site, they offer to order related services for events (for example, book a photographer, decorators, etc.).

There are more than 30 aggregators of sites in Russia

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The latest generation aggregators create an additional value proposition for users, launch their own services.

• Service marketplaces themselves provide additional services, for example, for organizing a turnkey event or provide their own software products for event organizers and venues.
• Direct-to-consumer develop their own network of event venues (usually niche) and use the platform to promote their goods or services.

Aggregators are also classified by event type:

• Non-specialized - collect information on venues for events of different types.
• Niche - specialize in venues for one type of event, such as weddings, business events or exhibitions.

In Russia, aggregators of venues for events are a small segment of the event market

Event platform aggregators are a relatively small segment of the EventTech industry. Thus, the share of platform aggregators in the total volume of venture capital investments in EventTech is only 3-5% in the world. In addition, this segment is quite young, so it is investment unstable. For example, in 2018 and 2020, the volume of venture investments in site aggregators amounted to more than $30 million, in 2019 - only $1 million.

Global Investments in Aggregates

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According to the study, in the global market, aggregators seek to expand their value proposition with the help of additional services and functionality. This is facilitated by the interest of investors who prefer to invest in niche aggregators and service marketplaces offering an expanded set of services.

HeadBox offers a range of services for different players in the event industry. The project helps customers organize a turnkey event, event organizers provide software for planning, and sites - access to leads (potential customers who have not yet made a decision on booking). In 2021, the company's revenue amounted to $10-15 million. The project ranks 9th in the ranking of "100 startups in the UK."

More common are B2C services, which in the format of a marketplace consolidate the services of event planners, photographers, catering, makeup artists, hairdressers, etc. Services for the venues themselves or event organizers, for example, business process management, content marketing, professional networking - are practically not presented.

In Russia, as in the world, aggregator platforms occupy a small share of the event market (30 out of 2695 companies). Most of them focus simultaneously on the B2B and B2C audience, although the average annual revenue of companies operating only in the B2B segment is nine times higher.

The Russian market is dominated by non-specialized and traditional marketplaces with the simplest functionality. On average, the turnover of such companies is 3-10 times lower than that of new generation aggregators. For example, the search engine of sites and services Eventbooking revenue in 2021 amounted to only 0.35 million rubles, and the B2B platform for managing the full cycle of events (from finding the site to preparing closing documents) Click To Mice - 276.9 million rubles.

Bash Today's hourly site rental service marketplace develops an ecosystem of related event services: it offers tools for individual selection of sites on demand, and also blogs with ideas and life hacks to organize a large-scale event. The project has become one of the most popular aggregators of venues for events among investors, closing two rounds from the business angel and Sberbank for a total of $500 thousand.

According to analysts of the Agency, three key areas of development of aggregators of venues for events will prevail in the market:

• 1. Access to new markets through the supply of non-standard types of sites (churches, country houses, breweries, schools, etc.).
• 2. Presentation of related services (photographers, catering, etc.) and services for sites (for example, analytics tools).
• 3. Development of a professional community of event industry participants (event organizers, suppliers, etc.) on the platform.

For example, in the USA and Canada there is a professional network and marketplace in the field of corporate events - The Vendry. The project develops a community of event organizers that brings together more than 15,000 specialists. As additional services, the aggregator offers customers more than 40 types of services and constantly adds new "chips": for example, the ability to select suppliers with fully vaccinated personnel.