New funding for hotel software firm

EVENTOVATE, THE Dublin hotel software provider, has secured a €700,000 investment from Bank of Ireland and AIB’s seed capital funds, with State agency Enterprise Ireland also contributing.

Shay Garvey, director at Delta Partners, which manage the Bank of Ireland fund, and Alex Hobbs of Dublin Business Innovation Centre, which manages the AIB fund, will join Eventovate’s board.

Eventovate, founded by Sligo brothers Jonathan and Jason Ruane, has developed software to allow hotels manage events such as weddings. Launched last year clients include Irish hotels such as the K-Club, Carlton Group and the Malton in Killarney.

Managing director Jonathan Ruane said that “99.999 per cent of software in the hotel industry is enterprise software but look forward 15 years and that will move to the cloud”. He said hotels would not use cloud-based software for functions such as room bookings or check-in because they “need broadband that’s as reliable as electricity”.

Cloud software is run in a data centre and accessed over the internet, thus reducing the support and management costs for both the user and the creator of the software.

Mr Ruane said Eventovate decided to create events software for hotels to showcase the potential of the model and so they could see “IT does not just have to be a cost centre, it can add value to their services”.

Eventovate’s software gives the hotels a full customer relationship management suite, direct marketing tools and process automation. On the customer side, which is marketed as Moposa, wedding couples and others can manage their own events by carrying out tasks such as creating a seating plan and managing RSVPs.

Mr Ruane said the new funding would enable Eventovate to add new features to its products and expand into the British market. Mike Ashton, a former senior vice-president with the Hilton group, is working with Eventovate to crack the British market.

Eventovate employs five staff but has seven open positions and Mr Ruane said it was planned to grow to 50 staff by year end. He said the firm closed contracts worth €500,000 last year and the new investment combined with increased revenues would drive growth. The firm targets the four- and five-star hotel market and use of the software is charged on a per hotel per year basis.