Meetings technology firm Cvent sold its consumer ticketing
assets to San Francisco-based Vendini on Thursday for $3 million, according to
a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cvent had acquired the assets when it purchased Los
Angeles-based TicketMob three years ago for $5.9 million and Seed Labs six
months earlier for $4.2 million. The acquisitions expanded the firm’s
traditional corporate meetings technology and venue network focus into entertainment
events like music festivals and sporting events. Ultimately, Cvent merged
TicketMob and Seed Lab technologies into CrowdTorch.
A Web search for CrowdTorch now leads to a site branded
CrowdTorch by Vendini.
The divestiture encompassed not only the
consumer ticketing line of solutions but also the customer contracts,
technology and intellectual property underlying those solutions. According to
an 8-K filing with the SEC, Cvent’s Los Angeles-based employees will be offered
employment with Vendini. Cvent could not be reached for comment about whether any
of those customer contracts included corporate clients.
Revenue from Cvent’s ticketing assets
was growing, according to the firm, but not as quickly as its core corporate
offerings. Cvent CEO Reggie Aggarwal said in a press statement, “With the
success of our corporate event cloud and hospitality cloud solutions in the
marketplace, the divesture of our consumer ticketing assets will enable us to
focus more of our attention, resources and efforts on the corporate and
enterprise market.”
Doubling
Down On-Site
The divestiture may also indicate
Cvent’s seriousness in entering the on-site technology space. The company
acquired Austin-based AllianceTech
in November to add to the technology stack it provides to corporate clients. “AllianceTech
had some great technology,” Aggarwal told BTN.
“They have done some very innovative things with on-site technology.”
In
October, Cvent president of worldwide sales and marketing Chuck Ghoorah
underscored the importance of on-site technology to Cvent’s future, as well, describing
it as where corporates want to put their money these days. “When the C-level sees the interaction now
possible and they see how meetings professionals are connecting the brands with
clients and partners, they get excited and they want to fund it more,” he said.