Cvent, a market-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, and Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company, today announced their entry into a definitive business combination agreement (the “Merger Agreement”). Upon closing, the combined company will operate as Cvent Holding Corp., and is expected to trade under the ticker symbol “CVT.”
The transaction values Cvent at an initial enterprise value of $5.3 billion. The transaction will provide Cvent with $801 million in cash which will enable the company to accelerate product innovation, increase research and development, reduce debt, and expand go-to market activities to capitalise on its leading position in the $30 billion market for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. Cvent’s growing global customer base, proven track record of success over more than two decades, and established platform position the company for substantial expansion.
Cvent CEO & Founder Reggie Aggarwal said, “The meetings and events industry has experienced rapid digital transformation over the last 18 months, with the pandemic creating a new paradigm for the events industry. Events became digitised through virtual and online experiences, and we invested heavily in expanding our virtual event capabilities. Now, we are engaging in a hybrid world, as in-person events resume, and virtual events remain prominent. With the increased digitisation of our industry, events are ’always on’ and have fewer boundaries. My management team and our nearly 4,000 employees around the world are excited for the opportunity to continue to innovate and enable our customers to leverage Cvent across their Total Event Program.”
Dragoneer Founder and Managing Partner Marc Stad said, “We are excited to lock arms with Cvent and help position the business for its next phase of growth as a publicly listed company. In H2’20, Cvent launched its virtual events solution, and ever since, this virtual product line has been growing rapidly and has been well-received by customers. As the world reopens, we expect to move into a hybrid world that combines elements of in-person and virtual events. With the optionality, flexibility and reach that Cvent can provide, we expect organisations to increasingly turn to Cvent to expand their audiences and create new, user-friendly ways for both virtual and in-person participants to interact with their events. Moreover, Cvent’s hospitality cloud business is a differentiator that benefits from powerful network effects – a key tenet that we look for in many of our investments at Dragoneer. Cvent is led by an exceptional management team with years of industry experience and a strong track record of profitable growth. We believe the $801M of capital expected to be raised from this transaction will enable management to double down on product development and further cement Cvent’s position as a leader in this software category.”
Co-Head of Vista’s Flagship Fund and Senior Managing Director Monti Saroya said, “With Cvent’s robust platform and experienced workforce, the organisation is well-positioned to support the expanded meetings and event ecosystem and deliver everything organisations need to drive engagement across all event types – in-person, virtual, and hybrid. We’re pleased that this combination with Dragoneer will allow Cvent to further accelerate innovation and growth as demand for engaging experiences across all event types increases following a transformational year.”
Accelerated Digital Transformation of the Events and Hospitality Industries Leads to Increased Technology Adoption
Cvent stands apart from other event technology providers in its ability to support the unique needs of both event planners and hoteliers, offering a global marketplace where event professionals collaborate with venues to create unmatched experiences.
Event Cloud – One Platform to Drive Live Engagement and Maximize Impact of the Total Event Program
Events offer a highly effective way for organisations to maximise engagement with their attendees, helping them to generate and qualify leads, deepen relationships with customers and build brand loyalty and advocacy. The accelerated digital transformation of the events industry driven by the global COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a new events landscape that will feature a combination of virtual, in-person and hybrid events. In this new landscape, organisations are empowered to reach larger audiences, engage with greater frequency and deliver differentiated experiences.
The Cvent platform serves as the system of record for event and engagement data collected across every internal and external event an organisation hosts or attends, or what is referred to as the organisation’s “Total Event Program.” This end-to-end solution enables customers to not only drive efficiency and scale, but also to integrate their Total Event Program into their broader engagement and marketing strategy to drive positive business results and increase ROI.
Hospitality Cloud – Global Online Marketplace Delivers Powerful Network Effects to Drive Group Business
Digital transformation has also impacted the hospitality industry as hoteliers continue to leverage technology to streamline their processes, connect with event planners, increase group business revenue, and benchmark their performance in a fiercely competitive hospitality landscape.
Cvent is well positioned to support the hospitality industry, providing a powerful combination of business intelligence and advertising solutions to generate leads, software that assists hotels in closing leads and managing event and group business, and its proprietary online sourcing networks that event planners used to source over $18 billion in 2019.
