Kampaay, a Milan-based startup that streamlines event organisation, has closed a round of €580K. The funds come from a private Italian and international investors who believe in Kampaay’s new digital event service.
Founded in 2018, Kampaay aims to revolutionize the organization of events. Through its digital events platform, it pulls in various organisation options, such as event spaces, set-up/decorations, bartenders/waiters, food/drinks, audio/video tech, and post-event cleaning. The startup serves both sides of the equation, by bringing event organisation to the final user, as well as finding clients for local professionals who provide the event elements.
Founded by residents of the Politecnico di Milano, the co-founders are four engineers specialized in different areas: Daniele Arduini (CEO), Stefano Brigli Bongi (CMO), Enrico Berto (Head of Product) and Marco Alba (CFO). The team has grown to 10 people with unique skills, and they intend to hire more experts thanks to the new funding.
This isn’t the first round for the startup. In 2019, they secured 90K to develop the first iteration of the product and grow in the local market. The new funds were closed in two stages, firstly in June 2020 and then in November 2020. Beyond developing further their tech and team, these funds will be used to also take their first steps towards expansion, first in Italy, from Turin to Rome, and then to the Nordis.
“This is a great achievement for our startup considering the difficult context in which we find ourselves”, said Daniele Arduini (translated from Italian), co-founder and CEO of the startup. He goes on: “An important capital increase that will give us the opportunity to grow very quickly on all fronts. The funds will be primarily used for technology, team and growth in new markets. Our technology asset will be further developed to integrate virtual experiences and other new features for physical events. For this reason, teams from the IT and product areas will be strengthened, but also marketing and sales, completing skills to ensure scalability. With regard to future prospects, the funding will be fundamental for the expansion of the business model at national and international level, starting from the Stockholm market, on which we will launch the first virtual events as early as January 2021″.
Kampaay saw constant growth in turnover and transactions pre-lockdown, showing a monthly increase of 25% until the end of 2019. With the pandemic, and in-person events cancelled, the startup begin to pivot towards online events and food/drink delivery. Now, post-lockdown, Kampaay has recorded growth of 30% month-on-month from June 2020, according to Startup Italia.
