Richmond, Virginia, Jan. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virginia Venture Partners (formerly CIT GAP Funds), the equity investment program of Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), today announced an investment in Bear Analytics. Arlington, Va.-based Bear Analytics offers Bear IQ, an insights-as-a-service (IaaS) solution for event tech providers, event organizers and brands that plugs into event technology platforms and unlocks and analyzes key metrics to drive better event outcomes and experiences. Bear Analytics will use this investment to ramp up hiring for technical roles.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the event industry’s business model, bringing in-person events to an abrupt halt. Face-to-face events that once brought in millions of dollars annually now have had to adapt to offering virtual event offerings. But there remains a lack of insight into what contributed to an event’s success in the past, to be successful in today’s new event landscape. Bear Analytics’ platform, Bear IQ, leverages event engagement data to empower event organizers to understand the levers driving an event’s performance, increase exhibitor revenue and attendee retention, and deliver better content. For example, tracking marketing and registration trends to agilely adjust, and measuring those changes against other event benchmarks and internal goals.
“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the event industry has always struggled to measure engagement. Going forward, the ability to understand audiences, show and prove value and improve the quality of any type of event will be based on data,” said Joe Colangelo, Co-Founder and CEO of Bear Analytics. “Event organizations are using Bear IQ’s functionality to improve their resilience to uncertainty, and are growing their organization’s data maturity while they do it. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed, and we are helping organizations aggregate, enhance and visualize event engagement data – regardless of how that event is being delivered. We are grateful for the support of VIPC’s Virginia Venture Partners, and are excited to expand our offering in the marketplace.”
The Bear IQ engine is designed to structure and organize human generated data, providing automated metrics, responsive visuals, and strategic insight generation to uncover the meaningful engagement centers of an event, tracked against key performance indicators. Built on the learnings from processing hundreds of events worth of data, the Bear IQ engine cleans and enriches raw data to optimize it for metric calculations and visualization. Bear IQ analyzes thousands of data points across nearly a hundred metrics tailored to engagement at events. This includes trending and predictive insights in audience composition, content or program consumption, and exhibitor and sponsor engagement.
“By leveraging Bear IQ’s data-oriented, decision-making approach, organizations can maximize their opportunity for success with all types of events. Event teams can say goodbye to spreadsheets and hello to more engaged audiences, better acquisition of prospects, and more loyal returning customers,” said Jennifer O’Daniel, Senior Investment Director, VIPC Virginia Venture Partners. “Bear Analytics is supporting organizations with analysis tools at a key time when virtual, in-person and hybrid events are all happening simultaneously, and everyone from sales to marketing to boards of directors are looking for data to help make smart decisions. We look forward to Bear Analytics’ growth and impact on the event space.”
About Bear Analytics
Bear Analytics empowers the events industry to be more data driven. Our founding team of event professionals have put tools in the hands of the world's largest trade shows, conferences, and events. Our clients’ successes have driven the innovation of Bear IQ, the world's leading event intelligence platform, Bear IQ. For more information, visit https://www.bearanalytics.com/about-us.
About Virginia Venture Partners
Virginia Venture Partners, formerly CIT GAP Funds, is the equity investment program of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) that makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology, clean energy, and life science companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating a significant economic return for entrepreneurs, co-investors, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Since its inception in 2005, Virginia Venture Partners has deployed $32.4 million in capital across more than 250 portfolio companies, including 17 companies in designated Opportunity Zones. Virginia Venture Partners’ investment decisions are guided by the Virginia Venture Partners Investment Advisory Board (IAB). This independent, third-party panel has drawn from the expertise of leading regional entrepreneurs, angel, and strategic investors, and venture capital firms such as New Enterprise Associates, Grotech Ventures, Harbert Venture Partners HIG Ventures, Edison Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Intersouth Partners, SJF Ventures, Carilion Health Systems, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, and Alpha Natural Resources. For more information, please visit www.virginiaipc.org/vvp.
About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
Connecting innovators with opportunities. The nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), VIPC is the commercialization and seed stage economic development driver in the Commonwealth that leads funding, infrastructure, and policy initiatives to support Virginia's innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, and market development strategies. VIPC collaborates with local, regional, state, and federal partners to support the expansion and diversification of Virginia’s economy.
Programs include: Virginia Venture Partners (VVP) | Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) | Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) | Smart Communities | Unmanned Systems | Entrepreneurial Ecosystems | Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) | Federal Funding Assistance Program (FFAP) for SBIR & STTR | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. For more information, please visit www.VirginiaIPC.org. Follow VIPC on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Attachments
- VIPC’s Virginia Venture Partners Invests in Bear Analytics to Power Data-Driven Engagement and Improved Outcomes for Events
- VIPC’s Virginia Venture Partners Invests in Bear Analytics to Power Data-Driven Engagement and Improved Outcomes for Events
