BookEventZ raises undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding

Online event-booking platform BookEventZ has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-series A funding from Lead Angels, Mumbai Angels and LetsVenture.

Existing investors, including Girish Mathrubootham, Anbu Pandian, co-founder of PanZeea Solutions and Ishan Singh, director of Recapital Ventures, also participated in the round, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

BookEventz, run by Urban Online Services Pvt. Ltd., was founded by Shriti Chhajed and Harsh Baid in 2012. Shriti is an MBA from SP Jain School of Management while Baid is an alumnus of IIT-Bombay and IIM Lucknow.

The startup claims to have served more than 73,000 event enquiries and booked over 5,000 events with gross merchandise volume (GMV) crossing Rs 50 crore. BookEventZ, which gives users a virtual tour of the venues and availability slots, says it is currently booking over 250 events per month, spanning weddings, corporate parties, conferences and social get-togethers.

"With this round of funding we are looking to reach 1,500 event bookings monthly, giving business worth Rs 15 crore to our vendors. We will soon have online event management tools for our users to design invites, get RSVP and manage vendors. Also users will soon be able to book all vendors (photographers, decorators and artists) at standard prices from website," said Chhajed in a statement.

"Co-founders Shriti and Harsh have shown that they can stay the course and have executed on the plan so far. They continue to leverage technology and innovative ways to strengthen their positioning as a technology partner for venues. This is a real business that solves a pain point and uses technology to automate processes," said investor Ishan Singh.

Bengaluru-based Events High, which also operates in the event planning segment, also raised an undisclosed amount this month from Axilor Ventures.

Last month, Ahmedabad-based events startup Hubilo Softech Pvt. Ltd secured an undisclosed amount of angel funding from 12 investors, including Freshdesk CEO and co-founder Girish Mathrubootham.