Start-up
He believes the idea is scalable, and wants to make Reventory accessible across Europe, and perhaps beyond. For this, of course, he needs funding, which is what brought him to IBTM. cost more than its entire annual budget to remove it all.
Reventory presents an alternative for the events industry. Instead of contributing to this ugly black market – a trade that is costing the environment and our wallets – our industry can actually be an example of forwardthinking and solution-seeking. The alternative is kicking the proverbial can down the road( for someone else to pick up later – or maybe not if it’ s in Oxfordshire).
I asked Albert about the logistics of running this platform. How does he make a profit?“ Currently the service is for free,” he said.“ But our business model is to take 10 % commission, which is standard in the events industry. That will become active hopefully next year.”
What about customer support? What if an item arrives and isn’ t as described? For that, Albert explains, there is a a rating system. You can give both the seller and product a rating to let everyone know how satisfied you are with the experience.
Bringing transparency to a closed culture There is another problem Albert is trying to solve. Currently, he told me,“ The industry is not so friendly about sharing prices. Hotels in particular
don’ t actively publish information about prices. It’ s all seasonal, and you have to send an email and wait for a response before you can find out pricing. There’ s a lot of speculation.
“ We’ re presenting an alternative to this closed culture. Our platform is based on transparency. You can see prices directly, and there’ s no requirements from us. If someone wants to rent or sell some equipment for half the price that someone else has listed it for, they can do that.” I say that this sounds like a sort of Vinted for the events industry.“ Sort of,” he responds.
The origins of Reventory Albert ran me through the origins of Reventory. As it turns out, IBTM was far from his first pitch. To build the platform initially, he solicited the help of BEFuture, a programme co-funded by the European Union. He pitched the idea, won and gathered the pool of resources needed to bring his company into existence.
Now, the team consists of three people. Albert, who handles the commercial side, and two developers. The company’ s marketing needs are outsourced.
Currently, Reventory is limited to Spain. The platform is active in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and Seville. But Albert is looking to expand.
Ignition at IBTM This year, the Barcelona show debuted a new feature called Ignite – a theatre dedicated to start-ups, new ideas and innovations in the industry. The theatre hosted a number of start-up pitch sessions, where founders quickfired pitches for their product idea. Hosting the platform was Max Fellows, founder of allpoints and advocate for entrepreneurship and start-up culture within the industry.
Fellows believes that the events industry doesn’ t put enough emphasis on innovation and start-up culture.“ In many ways, it’ s a very traditional industry,” he said. He argues the exhibition model has stayed largely the same for many years. And not without reason – the model works. But with major disruptions from AI on the horizon, the industry can no longer afford to rest on its laurels. It needs fresh ideas and innovation from a young generation of entrepreneurs.
Reventory is in the early stages of development. It may be some time before the industry outside Spain comes to use the platform. But Albert’ s concept is fresh and exciting. There’ s a lot of chatter about sustainability, a lot of which is hot air. The young man from Catalonia has taken a leap and built something to actually benefit the industry – which is precisely what we need. EW www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 6 2025 31