Meetings technology firm Cvent plans in 2014 to make significant
investments in mobile and other meetings technology, executives said late Thursday during the company's fourth-quarter earnings
conference call.
"We are very excited about the space, because in the next three
to five years, we see tremendous growth in the use of mobile technology as it
moves into the mainstream," Cvent CEO
Reggie Aggarwal said during the call.
Use of Cvent's mobile products among its customer base in 2013 doubled
as compared to 2012. Aggarwal explained
that Cvent years ago observed a similar trend in event registration, and that
the company believes it can win the same "disproportionate share" of
the mobile market.
New adopters of Cvent's mobile technology
in the fourth quarter include Qwest Diagnostics and Amway. In addition to
mobile renewals, including ALM Media, a number of Cvent's existing strategic
meetings management customers added mobile licenses.
"As we look to 2014, we continue to invest in sales and
marketing to broaden our reach," Aggarwal said. Cvent also plans to invest in such new meetings management solutions as an enterprise event
marketing tool that would help companies increase lead generation and revenue,
and an audience management platform, called AMP, that incorporates ticketing
with fan engagement, mobile and social media, and would help meeting buyers
"increase ticket sales and build audience loyalty."
Aggarwal stressed that it is only the beginning stage for
both products. "While we don't anticipate seeing immediate ROI in
2014," he said, "this will be an important year to set a foundation
for future growth."
Cvent reported $30.7 million in
fourth-quarter revenue, up 30 percent from 2012, and $111.1 million in revenue
for the entire year, a 33 percent increase from the year prior. Aggarwal
cited "strong net customer additions and overall annual growth of 15
percent."
The company reported a fourth-quarter net
loss of more than $600,000, down from a net profit of more than $1.5 million in
the fourth quarter of 2012.
More than 205,000 meetings in 2013 were
managed through Cvent's platform, an increase of 48 percent year over year,
including a one-time migration of "17,000 historical meetings by a
large enterprise client implemented in 2013." Excluding this migration,
meetings managed increased by 35 percent. The company
also processed and managed 8.7 million individual event registrations, up 19
percent from 2012.
"The number of registrations processes
has historically grown slower than revenue," Aggarwal explained, "because
an increasing amount of our revenue is generated by the sale of
non-registration products and features," like mobile apps and web
surveys.
Cvent cited as new SMM customers signed during the fourth
quarter Medtronic, UCB, Ameriprise Financial and a "Big Four accounting
firm," and "renewals were also strong," including Deloitte &
Touche, Salesforce.com and Roche Pharmaceuticals.
Users in 2013 transmitted 1.2 million RFPs by the Cvent Supplier
Network. "We implemented a deliberate strategy where meeting planners added
fewer hotels to each individual RFP," Aggarwal said, strengthening included
vendors' chances of winning each piece business and facilitating more timely
responses for travel buyers, according to the firm.
Cvent anticipates full-year
revenue for 2014 in the range of $137.8 million to $139.6 million,
approximately a 24 to 26 percent growth from 2013.