The event platform Happenee has received a €1.5 million investment.

Prague June 29,  2021 – The Czech event platform Happenee, which represents a revolution in virtual, hybrid, and in-person events management, has received an investment of 1.5 million EUR from Reflex Capital. This follows a successful and transitional year for Happenee, during which the pandemic spurred a shift in the company’s focus to the online environment and the development of its technology. This brought the company a 550% year-by-year growth in turnover. Over the next year, Happenee will be aiming to reach a turnover of more than 100 million CZK. With the investment, Happenee will accelerate the development of a new version of its product and focus more on expansion. In its six-year history, the company has acquired over 60 customers, more than 750 events of all kinds, and over 150,000 registered participants. 

"2020 was a turning point for us. With the arrival of the pandemic, we decided to start focusing mainly on online, i.e., virtual and hybrid events, and for the first time, we also started creating 3D environments. As a result, we achieved great economic results and managed to prove to investors that Happenee is a significant player in the field of managing and creating events of all kinds. The investment we received from Reflex Capital will now help us to expand our team, launch on new markets, and further develop our platform and marketplace based on the add-on principle that we use to create events," explains CEO and founder of Happenee Zdeněk Hesoun.

"It is clear that the world has changed, and those who can adapt quickly will succeed in the future. The virtual event industry is experiencing a huge boom due to the pandemic, and we believe that it presents a huge opportunity for Happenee to flourish. They already have promising partners and a fantastic product. As with every investment we make, we have to be excited about the founder, and we are very impressed by Zdeněk. We fully believe in him and his team," says Ondřej Fryc, managing partner of Reflex Capital.

Happenee 2.0

Happenee will use the funding it has received from investors to achieve several milestones. The first, and currently the most important for the company, is hiring. They plan to grow from 20 people to 45 within a year. Another goal is to finalize the Happenee 2.0 product, which will provide greater scalability. Last but not least, they will place a huge emphasis on sales and marketing activities. The combination of these steps will facilitate expansion abroad. The company's main focus will be on large corporate customers in Europe and the US and professional convention organizers.

The funding will also be used for product development. Above all, it will be used to continue creating the digital marketplace that Happenee uses to build virtual and hybrid events.

"You can imagine our marketplace a bit like a lego set. Companies can simply select individual components and build an event in a 3D environment tailored to their requirements. They can plan everything from start to finish, including their company branding. Happenee can bring an offline event into an online 3D environment on a one-to-one scale, with all the essential functionalities like networking, experience sharing, gamification, and much more," adds Hesoun.

€1.5 million from experienced investors

As part of the seed round, Happenee signed a contract with experienced investors from the venture capital fund Reflex Capital. They have invested in companies such as Productboard, Webnode, Apify and Shopsys. With Reflex Capital, investing is not just about the idea or company itself, but more about the person of the founder, with whom investors need to get along.  

"We immediately caught Reflex Capital’s eye. They provide us with superior mentoring and the confidence that we are working with a strong and highly experienced partner. The negotiations are always efficient, and I am extremely pleased that we can work together," says Hesoun.