Venue management startup Ivvy raised $7 million in pre-IPO round

Ivvy, a cloud-based event and venue management platform, has raised A$7 million in a pre-IPO round.

The pre-IPO raise was led by Thorney Investment Group, and Gandel Invest, led by Tony Gandel.

Ivvy plans to list on the ASX within the next 12 months. The 12-year-old venture has now raised $20 million in funding, including a $6 million convertible note.

The latest raise is earmarked to accelerate growth of the sales and marketing platform in the US and European markets.

Founder and CEO, Lauren Hall said the raise will allow us to further accelerate our global expansion and disrupt the status quo in event management as the event and hospitality industries begin to recover.

“We will be expanding existing market operations aggressively globally, with a focus in the US and Europe, to increase market share and build momentum as the industry recovers from the economic crisis caused by COVID-19,” she said.

“With reduced infrastructure and staff, gaining efficiencies through automation is a high priority for the hospitality industry, with a crucial need to do more with less.”

Hall said the funding for the Queensland tech company will also be used to double the size of the development team and accelerate  integrations with other hospitality software providers.

“Our software enables our clients to have significant business intelligence on customers’ spend, utilisation of assets, profit and bookings,” she said.

“It will equip them with the ability to make better decisions, hone their marketing, tailor their offerings and better target their resources, resulting in improved business outcomes.”

Ivvy has more than 25,000 users in 14 countries.

Hall developed and self-funded her first prototype of the startup in her native South Africa, but chose to relocate to Australia for the safety of her family and build Ivvy into a startup in 2009 with co-founder James Greig, raising $250,000 in a seed round.

The cloud-based sales and catering software allows venues to display real-time rates and inventory for their accommodation and meeting space online, while planners can search, compare, book and pay for function space, catering and group accommodations online. Ivvy also provides the tools to manage operational processes, including diagramming, invoicing and payments, the creation of banquet and event orders, catering and more.