Bizzabo buys two technology companies, its first acquisitions

Event technology company Bizzabo has acquired two technology companies, Bizzabo announced Thursday, the first acquisitions in its history. The deals come about six months after the company raised $138 million in a Series E round, noting then that it planned to use the funds to expand and build out its hybrid events platform.

Bizzabo announced the acquisition of X.ai, an artificial intelligence scheduling tool that automates parts of meetings by generating compatible times to meet across time zones, sending follow-ups and reminders, and managing cancellations. Once integrated into the Bizzabo platform, clients will be able to use the Meeting Scheduler, Bizzabo for Exhibitors and Smart Recommendations services.

“It’s not just about meetings,” said Bizzabo CEO Eran Ben-Shushan in a statement. “There is a massive demand for personalization and matchmaking at events.”

Bizzabo in late May also acquired Whalebone, a Swedish technology startup that through its two services—Crowd Amplification and Crowd Visualization—”enhances the experience between speakers and their audiences to humanize digital interactions,” according to the company. Whalebone uses sensors, interaction tools, deep learning, sentiment and interaction analysis to interpret the activity of the audience in real time, according to the company.

“With Whalebone, we have the power to create holistic events that ensure virtual attendees have a unique visual and audio-like experience,” Ben-Shushan said. “Beyond crowd noise and visualizations, Whalebone’s cutting-edge crowd technology will be used to close the feedback loop between speakers and their audiences, thus unlocking and visualizing real-time engagement at virtual events.”

Financial terms of the deals were undisclosed. Both technologies will be integrated within a few months, and the founders of both companies are staying on with Bizzabo, according to a company spokesperson.

Donna M. Airoldi www.businesstravelnews.com