LONDON, England — February 19 2021

In the latest development, leading market engagement platform for virtual and in-person events, Grip, has announced $13 million (£9.3 million approx) in series A funding, taking its total amount raised to $14.5 million (£10.4 million approx).

The round, led by London-based growth equity fund Kennet Partners, will further enable Grip to provide industry-leading experiences both in-person and virtually.

Founded in 2016, Grip aims to transform the way professionals network at industry events, working with the majority of the world’s largest event organisers including Reed Exhibitions, Messe Frankfurt, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch.

With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for the online events industry, organisers have needed to provide different event types to serve the updated needs of the market. Building on five years of in-person event experience, Grip’s Market Engagement Platform enables event organisers to create an omnichannel experience, combining various event types across virtual, hybrid and live to deliver increased networking value and engagement.

Underpinned by its award-winning AI-powered technology, Grip is proven to increase the number of quality interactions at events, creating unique insight and opportunities for organisers to generate meaningful value for their clients.

Tim Groot, CEO and founder of Grip, says: “Our mission is to empower organisers to bring professionals together to advance industries. This funding round is going to enable us to take the experience to a new level, leveraging our extensive industry-leading platform, offering unique value for Virtual, Hybrid and In-Person events.”

“I’m humbled and thankful to our clients for trusting us and working with us to achieve this milestone. We’ve raised the round for them, to make our platform better. We’re going to invest heavily in our product and global expansion to support organisers across the world in the continued digitization of their business and empower them to succeed in this new reality."

“Now, more than ever, we must do everything possible to help professionals connect in useful and meaningful ways.”

Hillel Zidel, Partner at Kennet and Grip board member, added: “Grip’s ability to organise virtual events with a key focus on networking has meant that the company has seen tremendous growth over the last year. Event organisers and their clients have been able to remain connected with their customers despite the constraints on in-person events. As live events resume in the future, Grip is extremely well positioned to continue to assist event organisers through the provision of software solutions supporting live, virtual and hybrid events.”

Brent Hoberman, co-founder of Founders Factory and previous investor, says: “Grip was born out of a need we saw in running events at Founders Forum – how do you use smart technology to catalyse the most relevant and valuable connections between your guests? I’m thrilled that under Tim’s leadership, Grip has become a world-class product that continues to build on this seed of an idea in using smart tech to facilitate more meaningful connections. It’s exciting to see the team attract and bring on a great fund in Kennet Partners – they now have the resources they need to take the company to the next level.”

Grip is the first Market Engagement Platform for Event Organisers to create Virtual, Hybrid and Live event experiences in a single solution to move markets forward. Grip works with 12 out of 20 of the leading Event Organisers in the world and is known for its leading AI-powered matchmaking engine, which has been used to establish millions of valuable connections at thousands of events.

Learn more at: www.uktech.news/ai/