HGGC acquires global cloud event management software provider, etouches

etouches, a global provider of cloud event management software and sourcing solutions, has been acquired by HGGC, a middle-market private equity firm.

etouches has offices around the world, including Australia and Singapore. According to the company, HGGC's investment will help it significantly expand its business and further invest in its cloud platform to win a greater share of the $6 billion event management software (EMS) and venue sourcing market.

"We are very excited to partner with HGGC as we continue to enhance our offering and capitalise on the large whitespace in the market," says Oni Chukwu, CEO of etouches.

"The HGGC team's experience in marketing technology gives them a very sophisticated understanding of the opportunity in front of us as enterprises transition from single-point solutions to a suite of solutions that manage the entire event lifecycle.

etouches employs a data-and-analytics-driven focus to provide real-time insights, customer engagement and smart solutions to more than 1,300 global customers including Dell, IKEA, Volkswagen/Audi, Ticketmaster and National Australia Bank.

Co-founder and managing director of HGGC, Steve Young says etouches has become a premiere provider of EMS and venue sourcing solutions, more than doubling revenues since 2014.

"We're confident that the additional resources we can bring to bear will accelerate etouches' already impressive growth and outpace the competition," says Young.

"Because we see etouches as a growth investment just starting to reach its potential, we've made this acquisition without leverage and are putting cash on the balance sheet to ensure nothing slows the company's trajectory.

Over the past 12 months, etouches has executed 46,000 events totalling 5.8 million registrations. Principal at HGGC, Farouk Hussein says it's a massive industry.

"Most people don't realise that event management is an enormous business expense, accounting for up to 3 percent of total revenue and nearly a quarter of all B2B marketing budgets—approximately $14 billion," says Hussein.

"Organisations are hungry for a broad solution set that can be used by multiple stakeholders to address all event management needs, as well as a centralised data source that is critical for event analytics. etouches provides that solution, which tracks real-time customer engagement, drives overall lower event costs and increases ROI and productivity.