The Venture Codex

Participated · Series D · Apr 2019

Bizzabo provides an end-to-end platform to plan and run both virtual and in-person conferences, covering registration, sponsorships, attendee interactions, and event provisioning. The company leverages cloud architecture and integrations with productivity and communication tools, and added streaming capability via a partnership with Kaltura. Founded in 2011 and operating from Tel Aviv and New York, Bizzabo saw rapid usage growth as events moved online. This year its revenue grew 100%, events organized via Bizzabo rose 65%, attendee registrations increased 500%, and overall usage jumped 150x. Bizzabo plans to use the new capital to build more technology to integrate virtual and in-person experiences, triple its engineering, product, and experience teams, and open two new offices in Europe. CEO Eran Ben-Shushan said the company will double down on product, technology, and user experience to lead the hybrid events market. Bizzabo began in 2012 as a networking app for event attendees and has evolved into a cloud-based, end-to-end Event Success Platform described as a “Salesforce for events.” The SaaS automates event tasks across email, social, web marketing and contact management while adding analytics to crunch event data. That data play aims to drive registrations, increase revenue and personalize attendee journeys using hundreds of data points. The company says it personalizes experiences—e.g., tailoring recommendations and introductions at an 800-person conference—based on actions before, during and after events. Bizzabo serves customers including Inbound, SaaStr, Forbes, Dow Jones, Gainsight and Drift and operates offices in New York and Tel Aviv with more than 120 employees. The company plans to use new funding to expand platform capabilities and grow its R&D and marketing teams. Bizzabo is a cloud-based events management platform that automates time-consuming tasks related to email, social media and web marketing, manages contacts and analyzes data to help organizers increase registrations, make more revenue and improve attendee experience. The company positions itself as doing for events what Salesforce did for sales and marketing. It was founded in 2012 as a networking app and by 2015 shifted focus to events management as the number of events apps grew. Bizzabo counts customers including WeWork, HubSpot, GitHub, EA Sports, Bank of Ireland and Teach for America. The company says its annual revenue is in the millions and that annual recurring revenue grew more than 200% last year. Management says it will use the new capital to scale faster and expand its cloud-based event software platform to meet market demand and bring its event innovations to more brands. Bizzabo cites Cvent as a main competitor but argues its post-mobile, cloud and social origins allow it to adapt more quickly to organizers' evolving needs. Bizzabo offers a cloud-based platform that streamlines event marketing by automating promotional emails, registration sites, agendas, promotions and tracking attendee engagement, ticket revenue and attendance. The company launched in 2012 as a networking app for conference participants and pivoted in 2015 into a CRM-style product for event organizers. Bizzabo focuses on small and medium-sized businesses and digitizing more of the organizational process. It reports having customers in the “high hundreds” and counts GE, Virgin, USAA and The Lean Startup among its users. The company is based in Tel Aviv and New York City and plans to continue developing and adding functions to its platform. Its main competitor cited in the article is Cvent, which was acquired and merged into the world’s largest event management software. Bizzabo provides a networking and event-management platform used to organize professional events. The app has been used to organize roughly 4,000 professional events and emphasizes faster, easier attendee and organizer interactions. The company plans to add more features with the new funding and to roll out a new event management platform later this year. Bizzabo’s product aims to help event organizers better monetize events and improve engagement among participants, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and organizers. The company launched in 2011 and faces competition from other event-management and location-based networking apps.

Led · Series B · Jul 2018

R4 Technologies provides a cloud platform that applies AI across all enterprise functions, incorporating diverse data and augmenting functional silos and existing IT infrastructures. The platform is designed to help companies identify and capitalize on previously unseen revenue and profit opportunities. The company serves Fortune 500 clients and large organizations across Consumer Packaged Goods, Retail, Financial Services and Technology sectors. R4 is led by founder and CEO Paul Breitenbach and has operations in Ridgefield, Connecticut as well as New York, San Francisco, Austin, Washington D.C., Dublin, Munich and London. The company secured $20M in Series B funding to support new client acquisition and continued innovation to meet growing market demand.

Led · Series A · Sep 2017

Webgility provides a back-office software platform, Unify, for small and medium e-commerce sellers to connect stores, marketplaces, inventory, payments, shipping and accounting into a single dashboard. Unify syncs data across integrations and delivers financial reports and analytics to help sellers manage back-office operations. The company is a certified partner of Intuit, QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite and integrates with 100+ e-commerce platforms including Amazon, eBay, BigCommerce, Shopify and Magento, as well as payment processors such as PayPal, Stripe, Shopify Payments and Square. Webgility was founded in 2007 by Parag Mamnani, who serves as CEO, and is based in San Francisco, CA. The company plans to use its new funding to expand operations and broaden its business reach in the SMB e-commerce market. Webgility provides software that automates accounting for online sellers by intelligently integrating financial data from cloud applications with accounting packages like QuickBooks and Xero. The product suite connects with more than 40 e-commerce platforms (including Amazon, eBay, Bigcommerce, Shopify and Magento) and is supported by a team of e-commerce and accounting experts. The company has been bootstrapped since launching in 2007, is based in San Francisco, employs over 90 people, and serves more than 5,000 customers worldwide. Management plans to use new funding to increase headcount, accelerate product development, and expand into new vertical markets. Webgility emphasizes equity efficiency and chose debt-based growth capital to avoid ownership dilution while funding growth.

Led · Series A · Jan 2017

Velocidi offers a cloud-based marketing intelligence platform that connects multi-channel data points from different media and marketing sources into a single, holistic view. Its platform is designed to allow analysts to uncover insights immediately rather than relying on manual processes. The company plans to bring to market a new generation of its platform powered by artificial intelligence. Velocidi completed a $12M Series A growth equity financing to support these efforts. The funding will be used to invest in sales and marketing and accelerate product development. Velocidi was founded in 2010 by CEO David Dunne.

Led · Series C · Sep 2016

ZENEDGE provides a cloud-based, AI-driven Web Application Firewall (WAF) and DDoS cybersecurity IaaS packaged with a 24/7 managed service. The platform is supported by security operations centers in the continental US and Europe and holds PCI Level 1 certification. ZENEDGE leverages patent-pending deep machine-learning capabilities to detect anomalies, dynamically alter security postures, and initiate auto-mitigation and automatic routing with minimal human intervention. The company protects thousands of web applications and networks across industries including eCommerce, energy, gaming, financial services, SaaS, media, healthcare and government. ZENEDGE plans to use the Series C funding to accelerate global expansion, ramp sales and marketing, and further invest in its patent-pending technology. With total investment to date at $13.7 million, the company says it has experienced rapid growth and aims to expand its international presence. Zenedge is a Los Angeles-based provider of cloud-based web application security and DDoS mitigation solutions. Its platform specializes in Web Application Firewall (WAF) and DDoS mitigation for web applications, networks, and DNS, protecting thousands of web properties and networks across financial services, ecommerce, technology, media & entertainment, and government. The company sells through a global partner network covering the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia. Zenedge plans to use the new capital to add DDoS mitigation centers in Toronto and Amsterdam to expand its Canadian and European presence. The company has raised $7.5M in total funding to date. Through the investment, Telus will offer Zenedge’s cybersecurity solutions to its business customers. Zenedge, co-founded by CEO Yuri Frayman and CTO Leon Kuperman, offers a subscription-based, globally distributed, attack-ready enterprise-grade security platform. Its flagship product, Zenshield, can be deployed in multiple modes: Security-Shield Mode, Security-Shield + CDN Mode, and Security-Shield Standby Mode to isolate origins, protect from attacks, and act as a fallback during incidents. The platform delivers granular control without touching a customer's existing web application infrastructure. The company is based in San Jose, CA. Zenedge raised $3.5M in Series A funding and intends to use the proceeds to move out of stealth mode and expand its reach to a broader client base.