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Events.com acquires Upped Events, brings advanced payments, deeper engagement

Thursday, May 01, 2025 — 16:23:49 (UTC)

Strategic Acquisition Introduces Advanced Payments and Deeper Engagement as Events.com Accelerates Toward Becoming the World's Leading Event Management and Discovery Platform

LA JOLLA, Calif., May 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Events.com, a global leader powering the experience economy through event discovery, sponsorship, and AI-driven insights, today announced its acquisition of Upped Events ("Upped"), a cutting-edge event management company known for its innovative organization and payment tools that simplify event planning and elevate event goer engagement. The addition of Upped into the Events.com platform will further enhance its capabilities across mobile payments, ticketing, on-site tools, event goer apps, and data analytics—strengthening Events.com's underpinnings and solidifying its position as a one-stop solution for event creators.

With the integration of Upped into the Events.com platform, event creators will gain access to an even broader suite of tools designed to simplify operations, maximize revenue, and deliver extraordinary experiences for event goers. In particular, Upped's contactless app-based mobile payment product brings forward a new on-site transaction point-of-sale (POS) solution to Events.com. Event creators can now take advantage of contactless kiosk and app-based payments for food, products, services, or experiences in multiple formats including pick-up, in-seat, at-table, self-service, ad-hoc, and more. The POS enables organizers to leverage event and vendor discounts, coupon codes, and promotions while accepting multiple payment formats such as debit and credit, tokens (e.g., "tastings", ride/game tokens), as well as Android Pay and Apple Pay.

By combining Events.com ticketing data (i.e., outside the entry gate) alongside Upped's POS transaction/interaction data (i.e., inside the gate), organizers have a comprehensive picture of their event revenue alongside detailed receipts and refund capabilities. The new POS debuted at Events.com's recently acquired La Jolla Concours d'Elegance held from April 25-27 on the picturesque shores of La Jolla Cove.

"We are excited to welcome Upped into the Events.com family," said Stephen Partridge, Co-Founder, President, and COO of Events.com. "The acquisition reflects our commitment to building a unified platform that supports every stage of the event lifecycle. By combining Upped's cutting-edge technology with our comprehensive suite of solutions, we're taking a bold step toward redefining how events are planned, promoted, and experienced around the world. Event creators and goers are at the core of everything we do, and this integration enhances our platform while advancing our mission to help creators deliver standout experiences at every touchpoint of an event – especially those beyond the ticket purchase."

Upped has earned a reputation for its intuitive platform that simplifies complex event management tasks while enhancing attendee satisfaction. Since its founding in 2020, Upped has supported a wide variety of events–from food/drink festivals to large-scale fairs and community events–by delivering seamless registration, contactless payments, real-time analytics, membership management, on-site apps, and advanced engagement tools. Upped's technology has been recognized for driving higher conversion rates, streamlining on-site operations, and increasing ROI for event organizers.

"Joining forces with Events.com is a transformative partnership for Upped," said Mark Kozlowski, CEO and Founder of Upped Events. "We've long respected their leadership and commitment to empowering event creators at every stage; in fact, Events.com's reputation for being a "platform for all events" with unparalleled customer service is the same ethos that I, Louis Blitzman (Upped's COO), and Filip Risteski (Upped's CTO) espoused while building Upped. By aligning Upped's strengths with Events.com's, we have achieved a cultural fit as well as an opportunity to drive innovation, value, and impact across a global event ecosystem."

The acquisition of Upped solidifies Events.com's position as a leader in the $95 billion U.S. live events market. Events.com's all-in-one platform already empowers tens of thousands of event creators by streamlining operations across ticketing, marketing automation, sponsorship management, event execution, attendee engagement, and real-time analytics. The addition of Upped's technology will further enhance these capabilities by introducing new on-site logistics features designed to save time and increase profitability for event creators while delivering exceptional experiences for participants.

A History of Strategic Growth Through Acquisitions

Upped's inclusion marks another milestone in the mission of Events.com: to become the world's leading platform for event management and discovery. Over the past six months, Events.com has expanded its capabilities through a series of strategic acquisitions aimed at enhancing the event experience across both live and virtual formats. Most recently, Events.com acquired the La Jolla Concours d'Elegance, one of the nation's premier automotive and lifestyle events, ensuring its continued growth under local leadership while providing enhanced operational and digital support. Events.com also added the Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival and the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival to its growing Southern California portfolio, strengthening its footprint in the live event and festival space and laying the foundation for Events.com's "Live division" to offer event logistics, marketing, and talent buying services to client events. On the technology front, Events.com recently acquired key assets of Remo, a leader in virtual event environments, and Citifyd, a smart parking platform that streamlines travel logistics and improves the overall attendee experience. Collectively, these acquisitions underscore the commitment of Events.com to delivering a fully integrated, end-to-end platform that empowers event creators and elevates the experience for event attendees worldwide.

For more information about Events.com, please visit Events.com.

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Acquisition