EVA, the platform that connects occasion bookers with native performers, has secured $2 million in funding as the recognition of in-person occasions comes again in full drive. The spherical, which the Nashville-based startup says was greater than double the goal quantity, values EVA at $15 million.
The current spherical is well timed as occasion organizers are witnessing a surge in attendance at in-person B2B conferences. In response to a research by occasion administration firm Bizzabo, 86.4% of planners invested in additional in-person occasions in 2023.
With the brand new capital, the corporate plans to develop its companies to new markets, starting with New York Metropolis in early December, shortly adopted by Los Angeles, California. It’s presently accessible in seven markets: Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte, Nashville, and New Orleans.
EVA permits occasion planners to guide performers for numerous occasions, together with company events, personal events, public occasions, school occasions, festivals, and weddings. Upon creating an account, organizers achieve entry to a wide array of entertainers, starting from Santa Claus for Christmas events to motivational audio system, musicians, magicians, and even Taylor Swift impersonators.
The platform additionally permits planners to create occasions by inputting particulars similar to location, date, variety of friends, finances, period, required gear, and apparel, and extra for performers to use for. As soon as the occasion particulars are posted, EVA’s matching algorithm suggests essentially the most appropriate entertainers and the occasion planner can assessment their profiles earlier than making a reserving. The “Teams” hub lets all staff members collaborate on completely different occasions and handle invoices.
EVA not solely goals to revolutionize the event-hosting business but additionally seeks to offer entertainers with entry to giant occasions they might not have had the chance to attend beforehand. Many performers on the platform are rising artists who typically battle to make a residing from their craft, sometimes being employed for small-scale occasions like birthday events or native bar gigs. EVA might doubtlessly supply them higher publicity, serving as a dependable supply of earnings for native performers.
Tabitha Meeks, a neighborhood Nashville singer-songwriter, advised TechCrunch, “EVA has allowed me to not only grow as an artist but also live in a way that I can start to build my future…I am able to not just scrape by as a ‘starving artist,’ but actually save money.”
The corporate revealed to us that, over the previous 4 years, it has helped artists earn $6 million collectively. The minimal reserving payment for occasions is $400, nevertheless, the corporate shared that the typical transaction ranges from $600 to $7,500.
Organizers are required to pay the entertainer 50% of the deposit previous to the occasion, after which entertainers accumulate the second half of the fee no less than every week earlier than it begins. All performers should submit knowledgeable video earlier than being accepted on the platform.
The corporate additionally supplies each events with efficiency contracts and occasion insurance coverage.
“We carry a blanket, general liability, and professional liability insurance policy for our entertainers and the corporate clients,” co-founder Makenzie Stokel advised us. “That was another big roadblock that corporations had with trying to book entertainers individually, is that typically these entertainers don’t carry that $5 million of insurance. That’s crazy for them to have to carry that, so we carry it ourselves on behalf of every event that we do.”
In 2015, the idea for EVA originated from the private frustration skilled by co-founders Stokel and Channing Moreland after they tried to arrange occasions whereas learning at Belmont Faculty. Each of them have music-related backgrounds and observed that lots of their artist buddies have been being exploited.
“At our core, we felt artists and creators deserve to be paid for their craft, and so that’s what started us down this path,” Moreland mentioned. “We first started by building an events discovery platform to help promote [our college friends]. That led us to start producing and promoting our own events and festivals, which then led us to really understand the big problem with booking and how not transparent or easy it was.”
In 2019, the platform began providing its service to companies. Notable corporations similar to Amazon, BMW, Dell, ESPN, and LinkedIn have chosen EVA as their occasion planning companion, utilizing the platform to attach with entertainers and interactive choices to boost their occasions.
There are greater than 2,500 entertainers accessible on the platform.
Buyers within the newest spherical embody the founders of Songfinch — John Williamson, Josh Kaplan, Scott Kitun, and Robert Lindquist — in addition to Justin Kalifowitz of Downtown Music Holdings, Cascade Seed Fund, Stout Avenue Capital, and others.
EVA declined to share its present income run fee. Nevertheless, it mentioned that it takes a 20% platform service payment from organizers on all booked occasions.
