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Taking event experiences to the next level: Interview with Andrei Stefan, Co-Founder of Oveit

startups And Financing

Taking event experiences to the next level: Interview with Andrei Stefan, Co-Founder of Oveit

1621374593317

Bianca Iulia Simion

· 4 min read
Latest posts
startups And Financing

Taking event experiences to the next level: Interview with Andrei Stefan, Co-Founder of Oveit

1621374593317

Bianca Iulia Simion

· 4 min read

Andrei Stefan, Co-Founder of Oveit, brings over 16 years of business experience in event technology. With a background in organizational and financial management, executive education from prestigious institutions like Harvard and Rice University, and expertise in both start-ups and corporations, Andrei is dedicated to revolutionizing the events industry. At Oveit, headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA, Andrei and his team are on a mission to create impactful experiences and connect people through event management solutions.

Their user-friendly platform seamlessly integrates event ticketing and registration, payments, access control, and live shopping.

1. What ‘aha’ moment led to the founding of Oveit?

The “aha” moment for our current enterprise happened about the same time we were exiting our prior start-up. At that point we were looking for new opportunities, and we have seen a tremendous interest in the event technology space. Our previous company was focused on in-store and online shopping so we thought this might apply really well to events. We saw a great opportunity to bring our expertise to event management so we decided to create Oveit.

2. What was your drive back then? What change did you want to make?

We saw two big issues with how the event industry used to operate. One - payments arrived at the sellers really late. Usually after an event was done. We knew this would never work in ecommerce so we thought - how can this work for event sales? Secondly - there was little to no technology to be used as a SaaS. No automation. So, we said - we are going to change this.

From a technology standpoint we solved all the issues we saw at first. Our customers can now directly receive payments in 130 currencies, through credit or debit cards, bank transfers and even crypto currencies. And the payments flow directly to them. Everything is automated and saves about 90% of their workload.

The technology we provide now is top-notch and our customers love it. We made it easy to use, automated and has a beautiful interface for both our clients and their customers. We added amazing features such as AI assistants, marketing automation tools, sales accelerants and more. Then we took in the new task we saw at hand: the event industry has a fraud problem. The current state of the art in (e)tickets is not good enough to stop duplication, scalping and cannot open a secondary market. That is why we created a new technology called – Smart Tickets. They are to traditional tickets what the iPhone was to previous mobile phones. They provide a revolution based on blockchain that enhances security, helps control the secondary market for ticket sales, they can set up royalties on ticket resells and they offer the technology for building hybrid events. Moreover, they are a great way to operate loyalty programs starting from amazing in-person experiences.

3. How did the business grew and changed since your previous fundraising in 2021, where SeedBlink investors joined as well?

With our 2021 fundraise with SeedBlink we created the technology for a wonderful type of virtual events – the live shopping events. These are a type of virtual events that deliver clear results and sales. The technology, branded Streams.live is now used by global brands such as L'Oreal, Samsung, Tefal and many more.

Soon after the end of social distancing measures, early 2022, the demand for in-person events started to grow. The virtual event landscape narrowed down to those that proved their worth and our live shopping technology stood out. To help our customers get the best of in-person and virtual events we streamlined the connection between Oveit, our in-person events platform, and Streams.live, our live shopping platform.

We now provide one of the best systems out there that can automate marketing events. We connect datapoints from both in-person and virtually. With the rise of GenAI we added virtual AI assistants and we streamlined the reporting, data analysis and set the stage for our upcoming AI copilot features.

This strategy allowed us to use the pandemic, a Black-Swan global event, to leapfrog our position in the global event tech providers. In turn, this allowed us to double in size in terms of revenue three years in a row since 2020.

4. How does Oveit's platform significantly contribute to enhancing event experiences, and what specific market gap does it address in event management?

The pandemic wiped out a big chunk of event tech providers. At the same time, a lot of event staff left the industry. First in 2020 when all in-person events stopped and then in 2022 when virtual events faded in favor of in-person experiences.

That meant we saw a drastic decrease in both technology offering and staffing. Starting in 2022, the event market started regaining growth at an unprecedented pace. The growth was the equivalent of the total Microsoft revenue for that same year.

Therefore, on one hand we started seeing a huge demand for business events and on the other hand, the industry faced an unprecedented lack of technology and staff. The only solution to this was software automation and Oveit was the perfect tool for this task.

We saw an organic increase in demand and we responded to it. We refocused our efforts to business events in the conference and corporate events sector and we improved our technology to respond to this demand.

We have rebuilt our interface with the goal of making Oveit the friendlies event management software out there, starting from a fresh look at the market. Imagine having everything you need: ticket sales, sign-ups, access control, name tags, money handling, and even paying without cash. We even went beyond that and we have added some really special tools that use smart tech and improve security.

For instance, EventGPT is a smart helper for planning your events, using AI to make things easier. Then there is the Hybrid Event tool that lets you run events both in person and online, and even sell goods and products during your event. With our generative AI, you can turn written content into videos, audio, or generate transcripts for your events. Smart-Tickets eradicate fake tickets and make sure artists and planners keep earning money from ticket resales. eWallet Tickets turn your tickets into something you can wear or use as a digital wallet, thanks to a tech called near-field communication. And with our payment tech, you can pay in many ways, such as bank transfers, credit cards, crypto, or vouchers. Our goal, in a nutshell was and still is to create a simpler, smarter way to manage events.

5. How do you plan to scale Oveit's business and drive financial success within the event technology sector?

Right now, the business events sector is a $879 billion market and is set to reach $1.79 trillion by 2029. It is also the key to what is called the event travel sector, 10% of global travel, set to reach 15%.

The technology that is powering this market is rigid and obsolete. Most of the market leaders have developed their core technology at least 10 years ago. We are seeing an increasing demand for new, more flexible technologies that can easily integrate with third party amazing tools.

We think the event technology market is ripe for disruption in a way that we have never seen before. Oveit is now probably the fastest moving event technology company out there and we plan on accelerating further.

Our goal is to create a fast-moving sales force that can complement our technology offering in our key markets. So far most of our growth has been based on word of mouth and inbound leads. We are working on moving to the next level - accelerating growth with a more direct, outbound lead approach to our business development.

6. How does Oveit empower event organizers to make informed decisions when adopting their technology solutions?

Oveit helps event organizers pick the best tech for their events by giving them a special way to use data that no one else offers. This means they can mix and match different apps to find what works best for them. Oveit makes everything work together smoothly, connecting tools such as customer management, AI helpers, and automation for marketing and sales.

In addition, Oveit works with top-notch tech companies for making payments, gathering contact info, and helping people network at events. This teamwork means organizers get to use the latest and greatest technologies. With all these tools and support, Oveit makes it easy for event organizers to understand what they need, plan better events, and give everyone a great time.

7. What are potential exit scenarios for investors supporting Oveit?

There are two potential exit scenarios for investors as well as for the Oveit team. The first one is to be acquired in the next three years by a major player in the industry looking to capitalize on the innovative tech approach developed over the years by Oveit, or undertake an Initial Public Offering three to four years from now, and list the company on a well profiled market exchange. However, we believe that the first option will materialize before we will end-up be listing the company. We receive also now requests for potential acquisitions, but we consider the sweet-spot from a valuation perspective for making the exit to be in two to three years from now.

8. How do you envision Oveit’ future growth?

Looking ahead, we're excited about growing Oveit into a leading name in event technology. Here is how we see our path to success:

Building an amazing sales and marketing team: we are putting together an amazing group of people who know how to use the latest technology to really stand out in the big markets such as US, Canada, and UK. This team will help us connect with more customers and make sure Oveit is the go-to choice for event technology.

Creating strong partnerships: we plan to build a network of partners, teaming up with the best in live experience tech and the sharpest experts around the globe. By sharing our strengths, we can offer even more to our clients, making their events unforgettable.

Enhancing our event tech software: our focus remains on making our event technology even better, especially for mid-sized to large events. This includes conferences and corporate marketing events for Fortune 500 companies. We are all about innovation and staying ahead of the curve.

Revolutionizing event creation: we aim to change how events are put together, ensuring every visitor has an experience they will never forget. It is all about creating moments that matter and making each event unique.

Climbing to the top: in the next three years, we are determined to be among the top thee event technology providers for business events. However, we are not stopping there. Within the next seven years, we aim to be the number one. It is a big goal, but with our team, technology, and partnerships, we are on the right track.

9. Do you have a mentor or individual within the tech industry whom you admire and draw inspiration from?

We have a long list of both investors and advisers that we are very proud of, but if it would be to mention just a couple from this high profile list, we could mention Neil Cunha-Gomes, who is leading the fintech and web3 investments for Softbank at the London office, and Angelos Angelou, a well renowned economist, who still holds the record in US from 20 years ago while he was leading the Austin Chamber of Commerce on the number of corporations brought to Austin to relocate their headquarters. More recently Bogdan Iordache, founder of How To Web and Underline Ventures has helped us in better defining our product strategy. Cristian Dinca, founder of DCS+ travel technologies has helped us avoiding some strategic pitfalls on defining our partner strategy.

10. Why should investors consider being part of Oveit’ journey?

I believe we already proven resilience, drive and stubbornness towards achieving our objectives. Not only that we survived a Black-Swan event during the pandemic lock-downs when in-person events globally died-out from one day to the other, but we reinvented ourselves during those hard times and ended-up at the rebirth of in-person events with a more powerful technology, better suited to this new form of hybrid events (in-person events with extensions into the online format). On top of this, we developed a set of both AI and Blockchain capabilities that transform our tech into a truly unique product in today’s new market.

We continued to double our revenue, years in a row, decreased our cash burn each year, achieving break-even at this point and building the foundation for profitability in the near future.

At this point, we believe that we have all the ingredients and the proper drive for a successful outcome.

Explore the opportunity on SeedBlink.

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