The UK government’s Future Fund helps Evendo to continue global expansion

Following support from the UK government’s Future Fund and private investors, Evendo continues its expansion by launching in an additional 23 markets – and thus positioning itself as the global leader in local group experiences

Evendo, providing a “booking.com-like” access to 100,000s of local experiences throughout the United Kingdom, selected European countries and United States, received support through the UK government’s Future Fund programme in July. This has allowed the company to continue an already initiated geographical expansion – otherwise jeopardized by the effects of Covid-19.

“Prior to Covid-19, we had been investing in the preparations for a massive geographical expansion. For us, this is a massive undertaking – effectively increasing our reach from 12 to 34 countries.”, says Kasper Larsen, CEO of Evendo. “We would have been unable to finalize these efforts, without the support of the UK government’s Future Fund and our private investors. In reality, the sad alternative would have seen us leaving this opportunity to create future jobs and business to others – most likely a company from Silicon Valley in United States.”

Evendo, previously offering easy access to experiences across 12 countries, has added these 23 countries to its list of operational countries: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia and Slovenia.

“It not only extends our reach, but also allows us to bring our experiences to more than 1.5 billion people in geographies where these have not been accessible like this before. We hope this humble contribution will allow people in these areas to accelerate the resumption of social interactions once this is safe and acceptable”, says Costas Mavroudis, COO in Evendo.

Social distancing during Covid-19 has naturally led to a significant decrease in the demand for experiences and events. Despite this, Evendo has invested significantly in expansion during this period – with the goal of bringing easy access to great experiences to as many people as possible, when Covid-19 restrictions are being rolled back and social interactions can be safely resumed.

Social interactions during Covid-19

Social interactions and sharing experiences are what help keep people connected. During such challenging times as these when it is even more important for our mental well-being we find ourselves unable to maintain these important relationships.

Extended periods with absence of social relations further leads to a detachment from past practices and interactions, increasing difficulties re-initiating and finding inspiration for the sharing of experiences.

Evendo wants to help people rebuild and strengthen their social networks where and when this can be done in a safe and responsible manner. To make it easy and enjoyable to continue sharing great experiences with friends, family and colleagues. No matter where they are. No matter what makes them happy.

“We feel an obligation to contribute in removing obstacles for peoples easy access to safe interactions”, says Costas Mavroudis, COO in Evendo. “Although our contribution is naturally minuscule compared to what is going on the world, what we can do is; a) ensure easy access to safe and exciting experiences, which can be shared by people , and b) introduce virtual experiences, which allow for social interactions even when apart”.

Virtual experiences

In addition to the geographical expansion, Evendo has been working closely with its suppliers developing a substantial suite of virtual experiences – things that can be enjoyed by people, even when they are physically apart.

With the aid of its suppliers, the Company can now offer anything from Virtual Escape Rooms to Virtual Cookery Classes, Virtual City Tours and even Musicians to join an event using virtual presence.

“At this point, we find it hard to predict the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic across the world”, Costas Mavroudis explains. “As lockdowns recur and extend, so does the need for solutions to maintain social interactions where possible. Virtual experiences are a great way of doing so, as it allows people to share memorable moments while still keeping a safe distance.”

The Virtual Experiences will be made available throughout all 34 countries.

About Evendo

Think “Booking.com for experiences” with a built-in planning tool on top, and an app-based assistant guiding participants. With Evendo, customers will find “Local experiences. Anywhere!” and be able to book experiences in more than 300,000 locations world-wide. As well as covering experiences, activities, venues and food & drink, Evendo also covers the less saturated experience segments such as entertainment hire, equipment hire and transportation.

Evendo is the world’s first end-to-end platform for Experiences, facilitating effortless planning, streamlined booking, and the seamless execution of group experiences and events, through its innovative and intuitive design. There is currently no identifiable match or competition to Evendo worldwide.

Evendo was founded by experienced entrepreneurs with several international success stories – including the Sitecore growth phenomenon, acquired by EQT for more than €1 billion.

The Company is headquartered in Canary Wharf in London, with offices in Delaware, United States and Hong Kong.

For more information, please visit http://about.evendo.com