Corporate event planning is often a headache of endless emails and lost invoices. Paris based Naboo just secured a massive $70 million check to cure that pain. The startup plans to use artificial intelligence to make booking a company retreat as easy as ordering a pizza.
This Series B funding round marks a major turning point for the event tech sector. It signals that companies are finally ready to ditch spreadsheets for smarter software. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the investment to help Naboo take its platform global.
Big Money Backs Smarter Procurement
The $70 million injection is a strong vote of confidence from top tier investors. Lightspeed Venture Partners took the lead role in this round. They were joined by existing backers including Notion Capital and ISAI. The funding arrives shortly after Naboo announced its €20 million Series A in January 2025.
This rapid sequence of funding rounds shows how fast the company is growing. Investors are betting big on Naboo because it solves a boring but expensive problem. Large companies spend millions on events with very little control or visibility.
“Our objective is to equip large organisations with a global infrastructure that brings together procurement efficiency, compliance, and automation,” says Maxime Eduardo, CEO and co-founder of Naboo.
The company has already gained traction with some of the biggest names in tech. Their client roster includes giants like Google and Meta. They also serve Microsoft and Amazon. These companies use Naboo to streamline how they gather teams and host clients.
Naboo funding corporate event technology artificial intelligence
What The Money Will Fund
Naboo has a clear roadmap for this fresh capital. They are not just hiring sales people. The focus is heavily on product innovation and market expansion.
- AI Booking Agents: Developing smart bots to handle complex requests.
- Corporate Cards: rolling out integrated payment solutions to track spending.
- US Expansion: Growing their footprint in the North American market.
- Tender Management: Automating the bid process for massive events.
Killing the Old Agency Model
Traditional event planning relies on agencies. You call an agent and wait days for venue options. Then you wait longer for pricing. It is a slow and opaque process.
Naboo flips this model upside down. Their platform functions like an Airbnb for corporate needs. Users can see real time availability and transparent pricing instantly. This speed is crucial for modern businesses that move fast.
The platform centralizes everything a company needs for an event. This includes venue sourcing and catering. It also handles transportation and team building activities. By combining software with operational support, they remove the middleman friction.
Industry Insight:
The Global MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) market is valued at over $800 billion. Yet, much of it is still managed via phone calls and PDF invoices.
Procurement teams love this approach because it ensures compliance. Employees cannot just book a luxury villa without approval. The system enforces company spending rules automatically. This visibility prevents budget blowouts before they happen.
Targeting the Tail Spend Problem
Naboo is now looking beyond just events. They are targeting a procurement category known as “tail spend.”
Tail spend refers to the 20 percent of company purchases that are not strategically managed. These are usually small, infrequent transactions. They are often messy and hard to track. Events usually fall into this category.
By mastering events, Naboo proves it can handle complex, fragmented spending. They now plan to apply this logic to other areas. This could include other tricky procurement categories with complex supply chains.
Why Tail Spend Matters:
| Feature | Strategic Spend | Tail Spend (Naboo’s Focus) |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | High value, low volume | Low value, high volume |
| Suppliers | Few, contracted partners | Many, one-off vendors |
| Control | Highly managed | Often chaotic |
| Risk | Contractual risk | Compliance and waste risk |
The company aims to be the go-to platform for these difficult purchases. They want to bring order to the chaos of miscellaneous corporate spending. This move positions them as a broader fintech and procurement player.
The AI Advantage in Logistics
Artificial intelligence is the engine behind this new efficiency. Naboo is not just using AI as a buzzword. They are applying it to tangible logistical problems.
The planned AI booking agent is a game changer. It will act as a digital concierge. Users can simply type what they need in natural language. The AI will then build a complete itinerary with quotes.
Efficiency gains include:
- Instant Comparisons: AI analyzes hundreds of venues in seconds.
- Automated Tenders: It manages bids for large events to get the best price.
- Payment Reconciliation: It matches receipts to bookings automatically.
This automation frees up human teams to focus on strategy. Event managers can focus on the content of the conference. They do not have to worry about whether the bus will arrive on time.
The integration of corporate payment cards is another smart move. It closes the loop between booking and paying. This is often where compliance breaks down in large firms. By owning the payment flow, Naboo ensures total data accuracy.
Bringing People Together in a Hybrid World
The timing of this growth is perfect. The way we work has changed forever. Remote work is now standard for many industries.
This shift has made physical gatherings more important than ever. Companies need to bring distributed teams together regularly. These offsites are no longer just parties. They are critical strategic touchpoints for culture and alignment.
Naboo supports this new reality. They make it easy to organize a meetup for a remote team. It does not matter if the team is in Paris or New York. The platform handles the complexity of cross-border coordination.
Investors see this trend continuing. Companies will cut office rent costs. But they will increase travel and event budgets. This reallocation of spend creates a massive opportunity for Naboo.
The $70 million raised proves that investors believe in this vision. Naboo is not just building a booking tool. They are building the operating system for human connection in the corporate world.
Summary:
Naboo has secured $70 million in Series B funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Paris based company is using AI to revolutionize corporate event procurement. They aim to replace slow traditional agencies with instant, transparent booking. The funds will drive expansion into the US and broader “tail spend” categories. With clients like Google and Meta, Naboo is streamlining how global companies connect.
We want to hear from you. Do you think AI can replace human event planners? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you are discussing this on social media, use the hashtag #EventTechAI to join the conversation.
