Cvent

Cvent

Type	Private
Industry	Meeting planning
Founded	1999
Headquarters	McLean, Virginia, USA
Key people	Reggie Aggarwal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Products	Event Management, Cvent Supplier Network, Strategic Meetings Management, Web Surveys
Employees	800
Website	www.cvent.com

Cvent, Inc. is a privately held software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that specializes in meetings management technology. The company offers web-based software for meeting site selection, online event registration, event management, email marketing and web surveys. The company has 90,000 users in 40 countries and manages hundreds of thousands of events, surveys and email campaigns.^[1]

History

Cvent was founded in September 1999 by Reggie Aggarwal, a professional attorney and founder of the Indian CEO High Tech Council, as a company specializing in event management technology.

In its first year, Cvent received $17 million in venture capital and grew its staff to 125 employees. After the dot-com bubble burst and the September 11th attacks happened, Cvent faced near-bankruptcy and was forced to cut 80% of its staff.^[2]

Over the next two years, the company focused on developing its software, servicing its customers and hiring motivated professionals. The company achieved profitability in 2003.

In July 2011, the company received its first round of funding in over a decade—a $136 million investment led by New Enterprise Associates and Insight Venture Partners.^[2] The investment marks the largest software funding in the U.S. since 2007^[3] and the eighth largest private equity funding in 2011.

Cvent employs more than 800 employees globally and lists more than 7,500 organizations as clients.^[4] In July 2011, the company reported 32 straight quarters of profitability and 41 percent compounded annual revenue growth for the last five years.^[2]

Technology Solutions

Event Management

Cvent launched it's first SaaS offering, event management, in June of 2000.^[5] The tool is a web-based system which allows event planners to build an online event, send invitations, and collect registrations and fees from registrants.^[6]

Web Surveys

Cvent introduced an online survey solution in 2006 as a complimentary offering. Cvent's web survey solutions was designed to serve as a stand-alone tool and target additional markets outside the event industry such as marketers, human resource professionals, trainers, and customer care organizations.^[7] In 2009, Cvent added a professional services offering, to provide deeper analysis on survey data as well as strategic business consultation.^[8]

Cvent Supplier Network

In 2008, the company launched an online event venue directory called the Cvent Supplier Network, a free online marketplace that connects event and meeting planners with venues and service providers. The tool enables planners to search detailed profiles of 180,000 venues and service providers worldwide, send Request for Proposals (RFP), and compare bids with side-by-side reports. The tool took two years and $10 million to develop and generates revenue from advertisement sales.^[9] In 2011, after receiving a $136 million round of funding, CEO Reggie Aggarwal stated that the company would re-invest some of this capital to enhance the Cvent Supplier Network.^[10]

Strategic Meetings Management

Strategic Meetings Management is an enterprise-level offering that allows for more centralized and strategic spend managment within meetings programs.^[11] Functionality includes strategic sourcing, meeting registration, budgeting, payment processing, approval coordination, report generation and return on investment analysis.^[12]

References

1. ^ "Exclusive: Dotcom Era Survivor Cvent Raises $136 Million Round". TechCrunch. July 20, 2011. http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/20/exclusive-dotcom-era-survivor-cvent-raises-136-million-round/. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "There And Back Again – How Cvent’s Founder Stood By His Company, For Better Or Bankruptcy". TechCrunch. July 20, 2011. http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/20/there-and-back-again-how-cvents-founder-stood-by-his-company-for-better-or-bankruptcy/. 
3. ^ "The Daily Start-Up: NEA, Insight Lead Mega-Round For Cvent". The Wall Street Journal. July 21, 2011. http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/07/21/the-daily-start-up-nea-insight-lead-mega-round-for-cvent/. 
4. ^ "Cvent Gets $136 Million in Funding". The Wall Street Journal. July 21, 2011. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903554904576458920220270338.html. 
5. ^ "For Cvent, recent months a mix of ups and downs". Washington Business Journal. April 30, 2001. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2001/04/30/focus3.html. 
6. ^ "How Reggie Aggarwal turned Cvent into a success". The Washington Post. November 7, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/07/AR2010110703933.html. 
7. ^ "Cvent Offers New Web Survey Product". PRWeb. October 5, 2006. http://www.prweb.com/releases/cvent/websurveys/prweb446155.htm. 
8. ^ "Cvent Launches Professional Services Program for Web Survey Clients". PRWeb. January 22, 2009. http://www.prweb.com/releases/Web_Survey_Tools/Feedback_Management/prweb1903104.htm. 
9. ^ "Cvent launches event venue directory and RFP management system". Hospitality World Network. October 23, 2008. http://www.hospitalityworldnetwork.com/markets/cvent-launches-event-venue-directory-and-rfp-management-system-3130. 
10. ^ "Bootstrapping Builds Strength, Cvent Founder Says". New York Times. July 22, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2011/07/22/22venturebeat-bootstrapping-builds-strength-cvent-founder-10159.html. 
11. ^ "Cvent Targets Strategic Meetings Management". Successful Meetings. June 3, 2009. http://www.successfulmeetings.com/Event-Planning/Technology-Solutions/Articles/Cvent-Targets-Strategic-Meetings-Management/. 
12. ^ "Creative Group selects Cvent as strategic meetings management technology partner". Travel Daily News. June 13, 2011. http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/43777-Creative-Group-selects-Cvent-as-strategic-meetings-management-technology-partner.