Let’s just call it like it is, event planning is truly a labour of love. It’s a million headaches before the curtain goes up, and another million more before the coffee has even arrived.
Having personally stood backstage at a countless number of events, I can hereby confirm, event organisers and producers are slightly mad. They spend months planning an experience that in a matter of hours is in the history books.
But they’re also dreamers. They’re creators. They’re huge thinkers. And they can produce some truly remarkable experiences.
But then, a global pandemic suddenly wipes out your entire modus operandi, what do you do?
Listen Up
In the case of Copenhagen-based Tame, you listen, and you listen hard. You meet the demands of what the market wants. Overnight, Tame went from a digital event suite to a virtual events platform; a pivot that saw the firm’s revenue grow 700%, completely through organic growth.
No slimy sales calls, no massive marketing spend. Essentially, the company continued doing what they do best, but just did it fully digitally.
When you post numbers like 700% growth, you’re bound to get a few investors excited.
The €4.6 Million Seed
Led by VF Venture - The Danish Growth Fund and followed on by byFounders, and follow on angel investors Mikkel Lomholt, Sune Alstrup, and Ulrik Lehrskov Schmidt certainly took note of these numbers, and have funded Tame with €4.6 million.
“At VF Venture, we want to help develop and drive innovation. The corona crisis has brought digital momentum with it, and here Danish IT entrepreneurs have the opportunity to seize that agenda and bring Danish technology and expertise to the global market. Tame is a really good example of that,” comments VF Venture’s Jacob Bratting Pedersen.
The funding is expected to power up the headcount at Tame, with more than 35 positions now up for grabs, and aggressively target and expand in the UK market.
The company is also projecting revenue growth of 4-5x in 2021, which would then put them in the black, and be primed for a large A round in Q1 of 2022.
Too Little Too Late?
To be fair, the virtual event play at this stage is a risky gamble. As some parts of the world are turning the corner, the UK is already testing live music events with no social distancing or masks involved, one has to wonder if the world is really going to want to ever sit behind a webcam and microphone ever again?
The pandemic has shown us that virtual events can accomplish their intended goal, but are merely a substitute for the real thing. Live events will forevermore contain a certain hybrid element, but as for events going fully digital all the time? This author isn’t so sure that zoomitis has ensured that that’s the absolute worst-case scenario.
Oh, and then of course there is that €4.6 billion elephant in the room.
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