Teooh, which is a developer of a mobile app for virtual events, is attempting to raise a round of capital. The approach is to use a crowdfunding platform called Republic. For Teooh’s funding, the valuation cap is $10 million.
OK then, let’s get some background on the company: When Don Stein graduated from college, he moved from Detroit to San Francisco, with the goal of becoming a venture capitalist. But this proved extremely difficult as he had few contacts in the industry. He kept networking and met a prominent angel investor, who liked Stein’s approach. With the investor’s help, he seeded a small venture fund called Candela Partners.
A key part of the strategy was actually to host events with the portfolio companies. Yet there was a nagging issue: Only those around the Bay area could attend.
Stein wondered if he could use cutting-edge technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to create virtual events. In other words, would it be possible to replicate the face-to-face experience?
To answer this question, Stein founded Teooh in 2018.
How It Works
Teooh is a mobile app where you can plan and pick the type of event to create. They range from small groups, such as the Virtual Mastermind group, to larger ones like Virtual Meetups (up to 100 attendees).
After you put together the event – which is fairly easy — you then invite people. To help with this, you can share links on social networks like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter (NASDAQ:TWTR).
Note that Teooh has avatars to represent all the attendees, which adds to the engagement (the company notes that some of the users have sessions of over four hours). Thus, it is possible to move around a virtual event venue, such as the breakout rooms, the main stage, the networking room, and group discussion areas.
In terms of the traction, Teooh has issued over 1,300 tickets across 15 countries. There has also been involvement from 20 brands.
Finally, the app has built-in analytics to track the participation for each event.
The Market Opportunity
The event industry really has not seen much innovation over the years. This is certainly surprising since many tech companies utilize this form of marketing.
But based on analysis from Teooh, the market opportunity is large. Its estimate for online events is $547 million and the growth rate is 7% on a year-over-year basis.
Although, given the impact of the coronavirus and slow economic growth, this forecast may be too low. Virtual events have the advantages of lower costs and improved exposure. But there is also a “green” benefit because there is no travel or waste.
Then how does Teooh make money? Well, there is a pay-as-you-go model, which includes a $1.99 charge per attendee plus 20% of the ticket sales. There are also no upfront costs.
Bottom Line on Teooh
So far, the company has raised $343,000 from 943 investors (the minimum investment is $100). Although, the structure is a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) instrument. This is a contract between the investor and company where the equity is not issued until there is a “trigger event,” such as an acquisition or IPO.
Yet the investment does come with specified perks, which depend on the amount you invest. Some include:
- $1,000: You get quarterly investor reports, five free hosted events, early access to products for testing and invites to all platform events for 2020.
- $10,000: With this, you get a private virtual event with Niko Bonatsos, a venture capitalist at General Catalyst. There is also access to the private email and Slack (NYSE:WORK) channel.
No doubt, the timing for Teooh is propitious. But the company is still in the early stages and yes, there are considerable risks. Let’s face it, other companies like Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) and Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) could make a play for the space. So as with any startup investment, it’s important to do your own due diligence before making a purchase.
Tom Taulli (@ttaulli) is an advisor and author of various books and online courses about technology, including Artificial Intelligence Basics, The Robotic Process Automation Handbook and Learn Python Super Fast. He is also the founder of WebIPO, which was one of the first platforms for public offerings during the 1990s. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
