Event discovery platform Vamos has marked a significant milestone by releasing a new Android app. The Berlin-based startup, which re-emerged in August with Version 3.0 and new investors, says that it has now seen a million events discovered, from food markets and pop-up shops to nightclubs and art exhibitions.
Having originally launched in 2012, the Vamos team – lead by co-founder and CEO Luis-Daniel Alegria – went dark for seven months earlier this year as they added features including profiles and recommendations and revamped the design.
Event promotions for concerts, fairs and live performances have increased by 1.4 percent in the last year at a time when the online ticketing industry is growing at about 4 percent annually, according to IBIS. With promoters struggling to keep up with market demand, a raft of event discovery platforms have emerged, usually in specific sectors: Fever offers curated listings in specific cities, Yplan sells last-minute tickets and Songkick offers concert recommendations.
Vamos, however, is attempting to position itself as THE event guide, making use of the five largest sources of events – Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Eventim, StubHub and Facebook – to ensure users have a comprehensive guide regardless of where they are.
“We want to be the most diverse event discovery platform. A place where expats, travelers and locals can easily find inspiration for interesting things to do, whether it’s a Monday or Saturday,” Alegria said.
He added that, with the platform having 78 percent of the global smartphone market, launching a reworked Android app was a “no brainer”.
The four-strong Vamos team has worked with brands including Vice, Absolute, Converse and Audi, and has advisors from Soundcloud, Truecaller, Google and DeviantArt. SoundCloud CTO and co-founder Erik Wahl was among a group of investors who pumped in some new funding earlier this year, and he was joined by Daniel Bornstein, Los Angeles-based investor and VP of global advertising for deviantART, Atlant Fund board member Jan-Ake Classon and Karl Sandstedt of Google on the Vamos advisory board as part of the undisclosed six-figure round.