If there’s one thing that most Indians face while arranging an official meeting, wedding, birthday party or any similar social gathering, that is finding a venue in a limited time within a tight budget. Tapping on this unorganised segment are start-ups such as venue-booking platform VenueLook. The company has come up with a list of over 20,000 venues across 24 cities on its platform.
Currently the Noida-based start-up acts as an aggregator to help people list their properties to host events, but eventually the plan is aid in ideation, planning, arranging and executing an action plan for any event.
“We have this choice of becoming a niche player in offering one-of-its-kind service in the best possible way. So we started off as an aggregator for anyone who has a property to list, be it a rooftop or an auditorium. What truly differentiates us from others is our focus on events beyond weddings,” said VenueLook founder Ruchi Garg, adding that plans are on the anvil to be an all-rounder in the event management space.
In future, the company also plans to come up with a set of tools to help its venue partners in their day-to-day business.
About 35 per cent of total enquiries on its platform are for birthday parties, followed by wedding and related events that comprises another 35 per cent. The remaining 30 per cent are for corporate and festive events or weekend parties.
The event and related spaces is a booming industry in India, which has attracted the attention of big players such as OYO and Treebo. Explaining how the company’s operating model is different from other big-pocketed players and the lean methodology adopted by them helps in optimising resources, Ruchi said,
“OYO now has a monopoly in the market as it takes over a property and runs them. Wedding, as we all know, is seasonal; which means venues remain vacant most of the time. So, we try and do our best to fill the spaces by offering the same place for different events.”
According to a study, the industry will continue to grow in double-digit figures and would surpass the Rs 10,000 crore mark by 2021. “There is a big opportunity for us as the use of technology in selecting a venue and planning the whole event is increasing at an unprecedented pace,” Garg said.
Founded in 2014 by Garg, VenueLook raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-Series A round from a clutch of angel investors this year. To boost expansion, Garg said they are looking at raising more funds.