Bizzabo Acquires Whalebone

Bizzabo, an events management platform provider, has acquired Whalebone, a Swedish startup whose technology simulates live audience elements from in-person events by making it possible to hear and visualize the virtual crowd. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Powering tens of thousands of virtual events over the past year, we realized that by not seeing or hearing the crowd, event organizers and speakers were struggling to understand and connect with their audience and vice versa. Live audiences produce energy and shared moments that amplify emotional involvement and human interactions of attendees and everyone involved at events. Without those magical shared moments, many event participants tell us they get bored, experience FOMO, or feel unheard and uninfluential. Our acquisition of Whalebone will fill that void by adding the human element we're all craving. With Whalebone's technology, speakers and attendees can feel the energy we seek from in-person events, through the screen, resulting in a shared, connected, and more meaningful experience," said Eran Ben-Shushan, co-founder and CEO of Bizzabo, in a statement.

Whalebone uses sensors, interaction tools, deep learning, sentiment, and interaction analysis to interpret the activity of the audience in real time to generate highly responsive sounds and produce an immersive visualization of the crowd, Its offerings include Crowd Amplification, a service for generating realistic crowd noise, such as clapping, audience buzz, etc., from an online audience, and Crowd Visualization, a tool that brings a vivid overview of a crowd in real time.

"With Whalebone, we have the power to create holistic events that ensure virtual attendees have a unique visual and audio-like experience," Ben-Shushan added. "Beyond crowd noise and visualizations, Whalebone's cutting-edge crowd technology will be used to close the feedback loop between speakers and their audiences, thus unlocking and visualizing real-time engagement at virtual events."

"Bizzabo is committed to bringing people together and making events rewarding for everyone involved: organizers, speakers, sponsors, and attendees," said Edward Cederlund, co-founder and CEO of Whalebone, in a statement. "Plus, their customer-centric approach has helped them to keep their offering scalable and agile in the rapidly evolving industry of events. We at Whalebone have a similar calling and approach, which is why we're excited to join Bizzabo's team to reimagine event experiences."

The acquisition follows Bizzabo's recent $138 million financing round, which began in December.

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