Leading Global Event Management Platform, etouches, is Acquired by HGGC

etouches, a leading global provider of cloud event management software and sourcing solutions, today announced that it has been acquired by HGGC, a leading middle market private equity firm. HGGC's investment will help etouches significantly expand its business and further invest in its market-leading cloud platform to win a greater share of the $6 billion Event Management Software (EMS) and venue sourcing market.

etouches' end-to-end platform provides event management and venue sourcing solutions to a broad set of customers worldwide in all major verticals, addressing a wide range of event management and data needs and complexities. Its state-of-the-art cloud platform brings together hotel and venue sourcing, event marketing and content, registration and logistics, engagement and mobile, and data analytics and ROI solutions. 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 Lufthansa, Dell, IKEA, Volkswagen/Audi, Ticketmaster, BNP Paribas, National Australia Bank, Mary Kay, Mazda and NPR. The company has offices in the US, UK, Belgium, Australia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.

"We are very excited to partner with HGGC as we continue to enhance our offering and capitalize on the large whitespace in the market," said 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."

Throughout its growth over the past nine years, etouches has maintained the highest level of service and quality, winning multiple industry awards including Superior Customer Service, Best Event Management Technology, Best Event Management Software, and Best Event Management Solutions. etouches was also named Best Place to Work in several industry leading publications while achieving a revenue retention rate over 100%.

"Under Oni's leadership, etouches has become a premier provider of EMS and venue sourcing solutions, more than doubling revenues since 2014," said Steve Young, Co-Founder and Managing Director of HGGC. "We're confident that the additional resources we can bring to bear will accelerate etouches' already impressive growth and outpace the competition. 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 totaling 5.8 million registrations.

"Most people don't realize 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," said Farouk Hussein, Principal at HGGC. "Organizations are hungry for a broad solution set that can be used by multiple stakeholders to address all event management needs, as well as a centralized 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."

etouches is the final platform investment made from HGGC's $1.33 billion second fund. It also represents the seventh marketing services technology platform the firm has invested in, following AutoAlert, Dealer FX, Integrity, MyWebGrocer, Selligent, and SSI.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP served as financial and tax advisor, and Jordan Edmiston Group acted as a buy-side advisor to HGGC.