Venuebook Raises more than $2 Million in seed funding

NEW YORK, July 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VenueBook, an online platform that streamlines interaction between event organizers and venues, has raised more than $2 million in seed funding to further the service. VenueBook allows venues and event planners to generate proposals, manage and book events in one cloud-based program. Previous investor Joanne Wilson of Gotham Gal Ventures is joined in this round with new investments from I2BF Global Ventures, Cayuga Ventures, MI Ventures, Kindler Capital and Victoria Grace.

"Beyond funding, this strategic group of investors provides added benefits, including sector expertise and connections to large hospitality and event groups that will ultimately help us grow VenueBook's partnerships and revenue," said Kelsey Recht, CEO and founder of VenueBook.

Since its inception in 2010, VenueBook has secured partnerships with high profile venues in New York such as Ahmass Fakahany & Chef Michael White's Altamarea Group, April Bloomfield's locations at The Ace Hotel, Interstate Hotels, EMM Group and Restaurateur Gabe Stuhlman's Little Wisco restaurant group in New York City.

"We had been managing our events the way many small business do: a hodgepodge of websites, calendars, spreadsheets and hundreds of emails," said Matthew Kebbekus, managing partner of operations at Little Wisco. "With VenueBook, we've unified the management of eight event spaces across six restaurants onto a single platform. With all of the tools in one place, our Events team now spends significantly less time on logistics and more time nurturing relationships and tailoring exciting experiences for our guests."

VenueBook has seen promising early revenue from subscription fees and booking transactions. The most recent round of funding will be used to expand the sales team, add marketing and developer resources, increase customer support functions and further mobile application development. 

"From travel to leisure to restaurants, consumers expect a digital booking experience, as made evident in the recent acquisition of OpenTable," said Mike Lousteau, partner and general counsel at I2BF Global Ventures. "VenueBook is a perfect complement to I2BF Digital's current portfolio of emerging growth companies that use technology to provide new tools to create value in existing markets."

"VenueBook's most appealing aspects are the quality of the team that Kelsey has assembled and certainly the concept. This is the first and only true end-to-end solution for the private events industry. Restaurant bookings are light years ahead of the event bookings space. With VenueBook, this is all about to change," said Victoria Grace, investor.

About VenueBook
VenueBook is an event-management platform that allows event planners and venue managers to work together in a digitized, collaborative environment. VenueBook assists every step of the event planning process, from inquiry to actual event, by allowing all transactions to occur within one comprehensive space — keeping the event planner involved and streamlining the once fragmented process for the venue manager. Headquartered in New York, this platform aims to save valuable time and allows venues to book more events and increase revenue. Visit www.venuebook.com for more information.

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SOURCE VenueBook