Investors Bet $50 Million on Event ROI Data
Photo Credit: Group of people networking and having drinks in a business setting Unsplash / jimylloyd laumain
Skift Take
The latest funding round for Vendelux signals that business events are entering an era of accountability, where data — not gut instinct — will increasingly determine which conferences win corporate budgets.
As companies face growing pressure to justify every marketing dollar, the question is no longer whether to invest in events; it’s which ones actually generate results. The demand is fueling investor interest in technology designed to bring greater measurement and accountability to business events.
Vendelux has raised a $50 million Series B funding round led by Tribeca Venture Partners, with participation from S3, Pelion Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, FirstMark, and Cervin Ventures. The raise brings the company’s total funding to $71 million, after raising $21 million in November 2023.
The investment reflects a broader shift in how companies evaluate events. Rather than relying on anecdotal feedback or attendance numbers, marketers increasingly want data showing which conferences, trade shows, and customer events generate qualified meetings, sales pipeline, and revenue.
Vendelux tracks more than 250,000 events worldwide, helping companies identify where prospects will be, prioritize which events to attend, coordinate meetings, and connect event participation to sales outcomes through integrations with customer relationship management systems.
More than 50,000 marketers use the platform, according to the company, influencing more than $5 billion in event spending. Customers include Intel, Coupa, Ramp, Deel, McKesson, and the U.S. Postal Service.
AI Is Making Human Connection More Valuable
Vendelux’s investors argue that the rise of AI is making in-person meetings more important..
“As digital channels saturate and AI automates email and paid outreach, B2B go-to-market is swinging back to in-person,” said Leo de Luna, partner at Tribeca Venture Partners. He called it “a once-in-a-decade opportunity” to bring measurement and automation to the estimated $85 billion business meetings market.
Alex Reynolds, Vendelux’s CEO and co-founder, believes AI is increasing the premium on authentic human interaction.
“As AI transforms the marketing landscape, authentic human connection is becoming even more valuable,” Reynolds said. “The strongest business relationships are still built face-to-face.”
While the company, which was founded in 2021 by former Shutterstock executives Reynolds and Stefan Deeran, points to AI oversaturation as a key reason that meetings matter more, it is planning to use the money to expand its AI capabilities and develop tools that connect marketers and event organizers more closely while improving the measurement of event performance.
The funding is also another sign that the competitive landscape for conferences and trade shows is changing. If corporate event teams increasingly rely on data to determine where they invest, organizers may need to demonstrate more than attendance figures. Buyer quality, qualified meetings, business outcomes, and post-event ROI could become increasingly important differentiators as companies apply greater scrutiny to event budgets.
