HotelGG.com’s CEO Xinman Tang told iyiou.com in an exclusive interview on February 20 that the company has recently completed a RMB 5 million investment in BagEvent, an SaaS service company that specializes in managing event registration and on-site check-in. Shaoyuan Wu, strategy consultant of HotelGG, will be appointed product consultant for BagEvent’s corporate meetings.
Mr Wu is described by Mr Tang as an authority on China’s international corporate meeting management industry, who has been in charge of managing and hosting international conferences for China Association for Science and Technology since 1985 and was appointed a MICE management expert for China Youth Travel Service (CTYS). Mr. Wu will assist BagEvent’s team in researching and developing next generation PCO software that will match the benchmark of leading US online event management company CVENT.
Mr. Tang said BagEvent was chosen for its youthful and down-to-earth team that has nearly five years track record in the industry. He emphasized that the investment is strategic in nature through funding and marketing, so the future development of BagEvent is still up to its own team.
Iyiou.com reported that the internet+meetings+events sector is made up of two key types of service companies. On the one hand are companies that focus on venues, such as HotelGG, Eventown, Baichanghui, Taohuichang and Huixiaoer. And then there are SaaS companies the likes of Accuvally Inc., Huodongshu, 31Huiyi, Eventdove and Mymova that provide tools of information gathering, registration and process management for streamlining events.
The deal between HotelGG and BagEvent indicates that the two are hoping to build an integrated management process for meetings & events, combining focuses on both venues and tools. (Translation by Jerry)
