Skift Take
Two more platforms are joining the ranks of Cvent, both focused on improving the B2B trade show experience for organizers. There may be more acquisitions around the corner.
Cvent announced today the acquisition of Jifflenow and iCapture. This is the now Blackstone-owned company’s first round of acquisitions. Cvent did not disclose financial details about the deal.
B2B trade shows is the focus of both tools. Jifflenow provides automated appointment scheduling, including 1-to-1 meetings and 1-to-many presentations. iCapture offers simple lead capturing connected to CRM with features like lead scoring.
“The Jifflenow team is excited to continue its mission to transform meeting automation as an integral part of Cvent, a clear leader that continues to transform the meetings and events industry,” said Hari Shetty, CEO and founder of Jifflenow.
“With organizations investing more in trade shows to reconnect with customers and prospects, now’s a great time to join the Cvent team and add our best-in-class solutions to their platform,” said Brady Roberts, president and co-founder of iCapture.
“Over the past nearly 25 years, we’ve helped power global meetings and events programs, and these acquisitions highlight our continued commitment to innovation and delivering the best-in-class solutions our customers need to drive their businesses forward,” said Reggie Aggarwal, CEO and founder of Cvent.
What Can We Expect to Change?
In a statement, Cvent said it would use these acquisitions to expand further the capability of its Event Marketing and Management platform. Cvent is confident that this combination of acquisitions will help its clients “easily capture, qualify and convert their leads with greater speed, consistency and visibility.”
Should Cvent be able to integrate these tools rapidly and effectively, it could provide a welcome boost to its platform. Their feature set is already incredibly complete; for many it is already the only true all-in-one event management platform. Some of Cvent’s previous technology acquisitions have been sunset without any integration taking place. This is unlikely in this case as the tools focus on very specific features that complement Cvent’s current offering.
Cvent’s M&A History
Cvent is by far the largest event technology company in the world. Throughout its history, the company has been aggressive in its M&A strategy. It merged with event management platform Lanyon under the then-owner, Vista Equity Partners, in 2016. Lanyon itself had previously acquired Passkey, the leading room block management tool, in 2014. Cvent made two significant acquisitions in 2018 with mobile event app provider QuickMobile and event-diagraming tool Social Tables. The following year, it acquired another mobile event app provider DoubleDutch. During the Covid pandemic, Cvent acquired broadcasting tool Shoflo in August 2021. It went on to acquire UK-based venue booking site VenueDirectory in June 2022.
Photo credit: Erika Fletcher / Unsplash
