M & A approach rather than a one-size-fits-all model,” says Flor Kassai, managing partner, Inflexion.
So, what was its approach with Easyfairs – one of the world’ s top 20 event organisers – when that founder-run business decided to bring in external investment to accelerate growth?
Having launched more than 100 events organically, the Easyfairs focus had shifted to scaling faster through acquisitions, new geographies and deeper sector expertise.
“ We were a well-oiled machine but felt the time was right to take on external backing to go even faster,” says co-CEO Matt Benyon, who shares the role with Anne Lafère.
Following Inflexion Partnership Capital’ s investment alongside Belgian investor Cobepa and founder Eric Everard, in May 2024, Easyfairs completed five acquisitions in its first financial year, exceeding its internal acquisition EBITDA targets. These transactions have been balanced: smaller bolt-ons that deepen existing clusters, alongside more strategic transactions that open up new verticals or geographies.
Some of the latest acquisitions have gone further. The purchase of Digital Accountancy Show in March 2025 will see the flagship London event benefit from Easyfairs’ pan-European network as the two businesses share a focus on technology and digital innovation.
CHEMUK ha been an example illustrating how Easyfairs deploys its value-creation playbook postacquisition, enhancing content, commercial reach and operational infrastructure.
Both of these acquired events have also expanded organically through geocloning under Easyfairs ownership, with Digital Accountancy Show USA launching in May 2027 and CHEMFRANCE in September 2027.
Meanwhile, the acquisition of EPC( Energy Projects Conference & Exhibition) in Houston, Texas, in December 2025, marked Easyfairs’ first US acquisition and is seen as a strategic anchor in the North American market, complementing the successful launch of Coiltech North America – already the largest launch in Easyfairs’ history.
Its second US acquisition took place in summer 2026, with the purchase of The AI Conference, a threeyear-old business whose flagship event attracts 5,500 people in San Francisco. That was part of three purchases in as many months. Easyfairs also acquired Nordic Live Expo to strengthen its position in the Nordic exhibition market with B2B events in the technology, energy, and the public sector, and Xpo Group, adding 61 events across 17 European countries in sectors including construction and interior design, renewable energy, manufacturing and technology, food, retail, marketing and communication.
These acquisitions followed two earlier deals in France, where the purchases of Food Hotel Tech and Tech for Retail strengthened the group’ s position in a market that is already home to its largest event, Paris Packaging Week.
Inflexion’ s role has been to help Easyfairs move faster without losing discipline. The firm brings experience from scaling CloserStill Media internationally – eight acquisitions helped boost international revenues 6x during that partnership.
“ Inflexion are very quick to make decisions and they’ ve brought the modelling aspect to the table. They’ ve really brought sense to what we could do and how we could add value – even when purchasing at higher multiples,” said Matt Benyon.
He describes the relationship with Inflexion as collaborative.“ They explained to us they are handswith rather than hands-on:‘ we are here when you need us but will not micromanage’. This has absolutely been the case.”
Easyfairs is also working with Inflexion’ s commercial effectiveness specialists to strengthen its value proposition, while support from Inflexion’ s sustainability expert is helping progress sustainability initiatives.
Technology and AI are increasingly central to growth, supporting postevent analysis, market research and launch planning.
“ There’ s no doubt that data and AI are increasingly crucial,” Benyon adds.“ We use it throughout the entire company on a day-to-day basis – including when we’ re researching new launches, which saves us a huge amount of time.”
With further acquisitions under review across Europe and the US, Easyfairs expects to have doubled in size since investment, while continuing to focus on the communities its events serve. EW www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 5 2026 43