Americas
Marketplace Events acquires nine home shows
in Southern USA
arketplace Events, the
“These markets are of obvious strategic
Akkroo acquired by
US-based Integrate in
$34m deal
largest producer of growth importance to Marketplace business-to-consumer Events,” said Tom Baugh, Marketplace vent lead management company
shows in North America, Events CEO. “This is the largest deal in Akkroo has been acquired by
our history.” US-based company Integrate in
has acquired nine home shows from
Show Technology Productions of San
Antonio.
The purchase positions Marketplace
Events in three new markets: Austin,
Texas (four shows), San Antonio, Texas
The company will open an office in
a deal worth US$34m. Akkroo
Austin, Texas to produce the new shows, provides a solution for lead collection which
and will also run its two Oklahoma City gives power to B2B marketers by letting them
shows out of the new Austin location. collect leads at any tradeshow or event using
Overseeing the transition will be Brent
the Akkroo iOS and Android app. Having
(three shows) and Lexington, Ky. (one Keller, VP Operations & Integration, a launched in 2013, the company has doubled
show). The deal also includes a show in 25-year veteran with Marketplace Events. revenue every year since 2014.
Charlotte, N.C., at Cabarrus Arena. Joe Trimble, Regional Sales Director, will
The company already operates another
home and garden show in Charlotte,
along with the 12-day Southern Christmas
Integrate’s customers will now be able
move to the market to sales manage the to benefit from Akkroo’s way of capturing
new shows. and processing event leads in real time,
“We have a good crew of longtime
helping personalise the lead follow-up and
Show at The Park Expo and Conference employees who provide a solid accelerate pipeline-to-revenue from in-person
Center. foundation on which to build a new team tradeshows, conferences and events. The
to manage these shows,” said Keller. “We acquisition will see the combined team size
completed by Marketplace Events since have a quick turnaround, acquiring these grow to 250+ people.
being purchased by Sentinel Capital shows in April and running our first Partners in 2016, bringing their portfolio shows four months later in August,” he Integrate, said: “With this acquisition, we
to 75 shows in 34 markets. added. have now integrated one of the largest and
The transaction is the 11th acquisition
Jeremy Bloom, founder and CEO of
most-leveraged demand marketing channels
that historically has the least amount of ROI
visibility.
“Today’s event technology is largely
developed for the benefit of the organiser,
UFI to tango in Buenos Aires in 2020
leaving B2B marketers and exhibitors to
navigate unstandardised and incomplete lead
data,” said Chris Wickson, co-founder and
CEO of Akkroo. “Akkroo’s technology is built
for the marketer, putting them in the driving
lobal association of the seat when it comes to owning the lead capture
exhibition industry, UFI has process at face-to-face events and allowing
announced its 2nd Latin them to take immediate action to nurture
American Conference will leads.”
take place in the last week of April 2020 at
Akkroo’s London office will become
the new Centro de Convenciones de Buenos Integrate’s EMEA headquarters. Akkroo’s
Aires, Argentina. team of over 50 employees will join Integrate,
The conference will be hosted by
including Wickson as GM – events and Andy
La Rural and colocated with the 17th Higgs, co-founder and CPO of Akkroo, as Vice-
Expoeventos Latinoamerica, one of the President, event products.
major exhibition industry events in the
region.
The event will be held with support
from regional association members AOCA,
AMPROFEC, UBRAFE and AFIDA.
An immersive two-day programme will
focus on regional-specific topics including:
digital impact, the future of venues and
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
events, talent management, and market
opportunities in the region.
UFI currently has 47 members in Latin
America.
“Akkroo’s technology
is built for the marketer,
putting them in the
driving seat.”
Issue 2
3 2019
21