Banzai, a Seattle startup that sells event marketing software, raised $15 million in venture debt funding. Columbia Pacific Advisors led the round, which included participation from Gaingels.
Founded in 2016 by former Avalara employees, Banzai originally started as an on-demand inside sales and marketing platform. It shifted to help companies drive registations to events. Then it pivoted again as the pandemic hit, focusing on its virtual events marketing solution.
Banzai has acquired virtual event platform High Attendance and webinar platform Demio over the past six months.
Interest in virtual event platforms has spiked amid the pandemic. This week Hopin raised $400 million at a $5.65 billion valuation. Others including Hubilo, Looped, and TouchCast have also raised cash this year.
from GeekWire https://www.geekwire.com/2021/banzai-raises-15m-investors-pour-cash-virtual-event-platforms/