Hypepotamus first caught up with Nashville-based LASSO all the way back in 2015 as the startup was building a streamlined events management platform.
Since then the team – and the events space as a whole – has transformed.
Live events first were dealt a blow from COVID. Now, the industry is trying to understand what events look like in hybrid or remote-first environments.
“There is a whole world happening behind the scenes and I think if nothing else, we as a society, have realized the important place these events play in our lives,” said Angela Alea (President & CRO). “Although events certainly came roaring back, they are still not fully back. As we look into 2023, events will continue to grow in number and by 2024 the volume of events and scope of each one will be greater than ever. Our industry literally overnight figured out how to reach a much broader audience with virtual engagements. If there is one thing we have learned it’s that virtual events will never be a substitute for a live experience.”
For LASSO, that meant rolling out five new products.
“We started with launching our crew scheduling application, and have since added crew timekeeping, electronic signature, travel booking, crew payroll, and our crew marketplace that connects event professionals to gigs,” added Alea. “Because we are a vertical SaaS company, we’re dedicated to continuing to build great products for an underserved industry. We as consumers and attendees of these events are often surprised that they are mostly produced off of excel spreadsheets. The intricacies of producing a concert, festival, corporate event are massive and many can’t fully appreciate the days and months leading up to a 2 hour event.”
The team has grown its payroll while also going after clients in different event verticals, including broadcasting, event staffing, TV/Film, fundraising/political, theatrical, creative/experiential companies, brand ambassadors, and sports and entertainment, according to Alea.
LASSO’S NEXT STEP
From crew scheduling to onboarding and all the way to travel coordination and payroll, LASSO looks to streamline the events production space.
The team closed its $5 million Series A this week from the Emerging Growth Strategy wing of McCarthy Capital.
The funding round will help the company scale its product and its team, which is currently spread between offices in Nashville, Atlanta, Charleston, and Las Vegas.
“We’re still in the early innings of transforming the event and entertainment industry, and this timely investment from McCarthy Capital will enable us to scale quickly”, said Clay Sifford, CEO of LASSO, in a statement.
Where Events Go Next
As a city known for its music and entertainment, Nashville is a natural place for an events-focused technology startup like LASSO.
The Southeast is also teeming with EventsTech startups of all sizes.
Eventeny, a Georgia-based startup, has been scaling quickly to help both event producers and attendees. Over the New Orleans, WRSTBND is rethinking festival ticketing and payments, while the early-stage startup in Atlanta, TixPage, is focused on changing how we all buy tickets online.
But the industry has a lot of new opportunities to grow in 2023 and beyond, added LASSO’s Alea.
“Our industry is made up of 12 million professionals. Despite being the first to shut down and last to come back, our industry fought to keep the world entertained and connected and we are seeing the impact of that tenacity,” she said.
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Featured Photo by Gordon Cowie on Unsplash
