Based out of Newcastle, Poptop, an events booking platform, raised £440K in funding from existing investors, DSW Ventures and NorthStar Ventures. The company is on a mission to make the event booking process simple, fast, and reliable for clients and performers.
The UK-based company is planning to use the funding to grow its platform and start to expand internationally and into new sectors. Having said that, the company is planning a Series A funding round later in the year. DSW Ventures invests up to £1 million as part of scale-up funding rounds of up to £2 million.
Revolutionising event booking
Founded by Ignat Thorovsky and Eugene Shestopal in 2012, Poptop has revolutionised the way consumers plan and book events from birthdays to grand weddings.
The platform applies data-driven algorithms and machine learning towards making a perfect match between organisers and service suppliers. However, due to the pandemic, the UK company has started offering virtual events and food deliveries.
World’s first online events marketplace
Further, Poptop also launched a new and improved platform offering live pricing, availability, and real-time booking across a wide range of services from musicians, comedians, and entertainers to vegan catering. It represents more than 14,000 event suppliers.
Eugene Shestopal commented: “We are confident that in 2021 the market for private events will bounce back strongly and Poptop will play an important role in the redevelopment of the industry. The technology we’ve built allows us to significantly improve the customer’s experience of planning an event and increase conversions and bookings for our suppliers.
David Smith, the co-founder of DSW Ventures, said: “The Poptop team have performed wonders. Their business exists to deliver fun and stress-free social gatherings. Despite their core market being on the ice for nearly a year, they have evolved their product, found new revenue streams, and delivered a world-first real-time booking platform for the private-events marketplace. 2021 will be a transformative year for Poptop.”
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