EventX, an Asia-based enterprise virtual event management company, has closed a US$10 million series B funding co-led by HTC, a virtual reality (VR) leading company, and Gaocheng Capital, a top China-based private equity fund focused on enterprise software and technology-enabled services sectors.
EventX’s unique capabilities, which include support for in-country and cross-border events with mainland China, have successfully gained the company contracts from hundreds of the world’s biggest events industry players and brands, including Alibaba, PwC, GL Events, Informa, Reed Exhibition, Yahoo, government departments and universities.
EventX is a dominant virtual event platform in Asia, especially for events that involve mainland China attendees where its unique design architecture overcomes internet firewalls to enable the service of any cross-region events.
Meanwhile, HTC VIVE has gained great attention and acclaim for its strides in VR research and development. By combining the knowledge pools of the two respected digital trailblazers, a range of unique experiences is set to be developed through this strategic alliance.
Both the founding of this strategic alliance and the massive enthusiasm of its investors follow a year of an incredible performance by EventX — during which the company has posted YoY user growth exceeding 800 percent — and several years of more than 5 million satisfied attendees in over 20,000 online, hybrid and offline events.
In the Philippines, the events industry is one of the hardest hits by the pandemic, with many live events from personal to corporate types moved or canceled altogether.
In the live events sector alone, which contributes about ₱221 billion to the national economy, more than 40,000 businesses have been affected and thousands of workers, including freelancers, were displaced.
The shift to virtual events has helped address the disruption caused by the pandemic. Even with gatherings now allowed in some areas in the country, of course in compliance with safety protocols, virtual or online events are expected to gain more traction as companies and event planners or agencies take advantage of the greater accessibility and creative capabilities of online platforms.
Virtual events are forecast to expand beyond initial revenue estimates of $404 billion by 2027. Hybrid events, which marry online and offline events and so allow for greater flexibility and accessibility in terms of reaching a wider audience, overseeing invitations, registrations, and payments, enriching audience engagement, and managing content delivery, present the next big trend for the events industry in the Philippines.
COVID-19 has permanently transformed the professional events category, It also raised attention to venture capitalists to pour in massive capital to the virtual event software space. A comparable company in the UK called Hopin has raised $565 million and is valued at US$5.65 billion in just two years, making it Europe’s fastest-growing startup of all time.
EventX is the rising player in the same virtual and hybrid event space focusing on the Asia region.
With its unique China access and together with HTC VIVE, the company will be adopting VR and prospecting technology into the core capabilities of the event SaaS product to make it accessible and reinvent the virtual event experience.
For the first attempt to add VR and prospecting technology into core capabilities, EventX is releasing a virtual event lite platform and opening it for segments such as NGOs, SMEs and startups to register and organize virtual events for free.
Joseph Lin, president of VIVEPORT, said, “VR has the power to improve the world. At HTC VIVE, we strive to create the tools to expedite VR adoption — using not only our VR devices but also computers, tablets and smartphones — and interact effectively. The strategic alliance with EventX illustrates HTC VIVE’s continuous efforts in providing people and enterprises with the tools to meet, socialize and learn in VR and beyond. Massive possibilities and enthusiasm can be seen in this partnership to bring people closer together without any geographical boundaries.”
EventX co-founder and CEO Sum Wong commented on the strategic alliance: “It is certain that virtual workspaces and virtual events will become the new norm. The creation of this alliance will result in a deep level of integration between our own expertise and HTC VIVE’s groundbreaking work in the VR space. This collaboration will result in EventX bringing virtual and hybrid event experiences to a brand new level of immersion and interactivity. To take the responsibility as one of the event industry leaders, EventX will keep exploring new possibilities of event technology, popularizing the application and meeting users’ needs.”
After the fund-raising, EventX is going to invest heavily in products and engineering to lead in the recovery of the events industry, which will not only stabilize and solidify existing virtual event services but carve out new spaces and opportunities for the marketing and event industry.
