Member Article

Smart events and communities firm SCOOCS secures first investment round

Virtual event and communities platform SCOOCS, which has a sales office in Oxford, has raised 1 million euros in investment from business angel Sebastian Loh. The funding will be used to develop the platform further, simplifying the process of customizing and building events/communities, and expanding the team.

Born from necessity in 2020 and a couple weeks before COVID lockdowns, SCOOCS (Smart Customizable, Online, Offline, Communities for Sustainability) was founded by Prof Dr. René Bohnsack. He used the platform to host his own conference on the topic of Sustainability and Digitalisation to showcase those conferences can be more sustainable and inclusive. Market demand combined with years of experience in building digital platforms, including award-winning e-learning platforms, led to the commercialization of the platform.

Unlike other offers on the market, SCOOCS is easily customisable. The platform boasts a growing client base of repeat users, and has hosted events for the likes of Samsung, Liferay and the United Nations.

Founded in Portugal, SCOOCS has strong market presence there and in Germany, where Dr. Bohnsack and Sebastian Loh are based. The company also has a sales team operating from Oxford, UK.

The Co-Founder and CEO of SCOOCS Francisco Chambel is thrilled about this round “the whole team is excited to have Mr Loh on board. Alongside the investment, his business acumen, vast network and hands-on mentality is something that SCOOCS will immensely profit from in the next growth stage.

“Fate has been kind to us, even though not for the best reasons (COVID), and without any external investment we were able not only to sustainably grow, but also serve internationally well-known customers, including large corporations such as Samsung, institutions such as the United Nations or German government or universities across the globe.”

The United Nations, Business Call to Action 10th Annual forum organisers recently stated that the “SCOOCS platform was very intuitive and easy to customize, with networking options that create a sense of an in-person conference” Francisco Chambel explains why now is a good time to invest in event platforms: “COVID is slowing down, people are wanting in-person connections again, but not only virtual interactions existed way before COVID, but most importantly, the smart so called “new normal” is here to stay.

“Throughout our client base and our clients’ customers, we receive the feedback that the majority still would like to have the option to attend events online. Not only does it save a lot of time, but also costs and CO2. Additionally, demand for onsite events is becoming more sophisticated. The advantages of efficient matchmaking, community building and seamless connection between the offline and online world are increasing. SCOOCS is ideally positioned to capture existing and newly emerging markets.”

Sebastian Loh is excited to join this journey: “SCOOCS has been a great platform for our own events. To participate in the realization of an event and to experience the features in my own environment was definitely a booster to look into this market. I believe that there are tremendous growth opportunities combining onsite and online participants in one platform.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Scoocs .