At times when the events industry is reimagining new ways of bringing people together, the need for more innovations of event technologies is becoming increasingly important. The evolution of event tech started with the emergence of online registration and ticketing solutions, went through the invention of event mobile apps and event engagement technologies such as live polls and audience response systems, and culminated in the last wave of event innovations that use VR, AR, and AI technologies.
Using VR and AR in event space planning can be a real game-changer because it eliminates the need for physical visits and eases the communication between the event planner and the venue manager. To bring such technology into the local market, a Bulgarian team with professional experience in the event planning and marketing industry founded LayAlt – software that offers AR and VR technology for event space planning. On a mission to make its venue planning solution available to more event organizers, the startup recently received its first €50K investment from the Bulgarian VC Innovation Capital. Yavor Gochev, who is an Investment Manager at Innovation Capital notes that the main reasons for supporting the startup are the previous entrepreneurial experience of the founder, the expertise of the team, and the fact that the solution offered by LayAlt is aimed at solving a real problem when it comes to organizing events, especially in the current situation.
Solving the pain points in the local event industry
The story of LayAlt begins with Press Start – a company, Victoria Victorova founded and still manages and which focuses on providing event marketing services for tech exhibitions and gaming tournaments. At Press Start, Victorova and her team have done projects for more than 100 events, so they gained some insightful observations about the existing challenges in the industry. They discovered that even the most prestigious event halls and hotels could not adequately showcase the exact arrangement of the venue for the upcoming event, which ultimately led to misunderstandings and dissatisfaction with the final venue arrangement. That is how the idea of developing software that allows event organizers to arrange their venues precisely and virtually was born and Victorova collaborated with a programmer from Press Start to make LayAlt a reality.
The product of LayAlt allows event planners to go into the website of the specific venue and arrange everything in the room as they like. What differentiates their software is that it is web-based, easy to use, and compatible with every browser and on any mobile device. It is fully customizable and enables users to choose from a selection of venue layouts and furniture with real-sized proportions, while also allowing them to examine the rooms in 2D, 3D, and VR modes to see in first-person whether they are satisfied with the design.
What comes next for LayAlt?
Right now the team of LayAlt consists of Victorova, who is the CEO and Marketing specialist, a Software Engineer, a Biz Dev, a graphic designer, and a 3D artist. They are now looking to expand their team with a SysAdmin and to finish their proprietary environment-capturing device which scans spaces and turns them into high-quality 3D models in real-time.
“We are planning to develop a web-based platform where event space managers can digitally recreate their halls on their own through a special visual builder. Business-wise we’re aiming at least one more investment in the coming months, as well as signing several new customers – some of which should be from other EU countries,” explains Victorova.
