Thailand’s Event Pop gets seed funding to make organizing, managing events easier

Event Pop has managed ticket sales for Thailand’s Waterzonik Festival, among others. Photo credit: Waterzonik.

Thailand’s event organizing and management startup Event Pop has raised US$500,000 in seed funding, it announced today. The funding round was led by Singapore’s KK Fund, while Japanese marketing group’s OPT Southeast Asia arm, OPT SEA, and angel investor Hirokazu Mashita of M&S Partners participated.

As its name suggests, Event Pop specializes in events like concerts, conferences, and so on. It provides a variety of services from ticketing and a payments system to website templates and customer relationship management (CRM) resources. Its tech includes data analysis and know-your-customer features that can give organizers various insights on their event attendees. Founded last year, the team says it has managed more than 100,000 ticket orders for 300 events so far.

Event Pop CEO Pattaraporn “Max” Bodhisuwan. Photo credit: Event Pop

Event Pop has previously raised funding from angel investor Itthipat Peeradechapan, a.k.a. Tob Tao Kae Noi. “At the early stage, Tob was a great connector helping us to get insights and meet key people in the industry,” Event Pop CEO Pattaraporn “Max” Bodhisuwan tells Tech in Asia. “Tob has helped mentor Event Pop since it was founded and [is] still doing so.”

The startup met with KK Fund three or four months after getting founded. “With our plans to expand regionally, our seed investors are already contributing to our plan, such as market insights in various countries,” Max says.

Event Pop plans to use the funding to bolster its presence in Thailand. “We’re looking at building awareness and trust among both customers and promoters/organizers,” Max says. He adds that the company has gone from zero to commanding two percent of the events and tickets market share in Thailand in the last six months, and targets a tenfold increase for this year. The team will be adding features to support a more diverse mix of events, like expos and corporate training. It will also work on features that make it easier for international organizers to bring events into Thailand.

After that, it will try expanding to other countries in the region. Max won’t reveal which markets he’s targeting, but says he sees expansion within the year after a new round of funding – which the company hopes to raise before 2016 is done.