How this 3 year old startup offers seamless online venue booking One-stop solution to all event planning requirements

Planning to throw birthday bash for your loved ones and stuck in finding the perfect venue for doing so. Not to worry anymore. Shriti Chhajed and Harsh Baid have founded BookEventz to make your party planning hassle free.

Formerly known as UrbanRestro, BookEventz is one-stop solution to all event planning requirements. The portal helps you to pick venues that are best matched with your needs, helps you to find ideal places for board meetings, conferences and special occasions like wedding, reception and birthday party.

Founded in 2012, the startup claims to be India's first online venue booking platform started with enabling individuals and companies to book all their F&B requirements online – from restaurant reservations and party bookings to organizing unique culinary experiences.

With more than 1,000 venues ranging from restaurants to lounges to resorts to hotels to party plots and caterers, the portal helps you to save time and money.

Tasting early success in venue booking and events, the duo focused their brand to cover every detail for organizing any event – from selecting the venue to booking all vendor services – all at the click of a button.

Funding

Recently, the startup has secured an undisclosed amount from angel investors led by Mumbai Angels with participation from Singapore Angel Network and Zishaan Hayath (PLV). Moreover, with this round, Ishan Singh, the Mumbai Angels deal lead, will be joining the company board.

The venture plans to utilize this round of funding to bolster the technology backend and invest in marketing strategies.

Commenting on the investment, Chhajed said, "With this funding, our aim is to develop a strong product enabling a seamless event booking process, making end users more comfortable doing it online than offline. Recently, we have added 360-degree views of venues, reviews, detailed descriptions of approach, services, and ambiance for each of the venues. Also, we are increasing our service offerings for events, such as artists, themes, caterers and decorators."

A Way Forward

Currently operating in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, BookEventz has over 2,000 vendors listed with it. The website served 2,000 customers in November 2015 and over 100 bookings made with a GMV of over 1 crore. They further aim to serve 20,000 customers bookings monthly by July 2016.

Sector Overview

With the increase in tech startups, event planning market in India is growing rapidly. They are not only seeking the attention of the consumers but also gaining the interest of the investors.

If we talk about the event planning segment, recently, Weddingz.in, an online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors, has secured over $1 million in angel funding led by group of investors, including Google India's Managing Director Rajan Anandan.

Another startup dealing in wedding planning segment, WedMeGood, has also raised Rs 2.7 crore in seed funding from Indian Angel Network.