Planned closes $35M Series B, adds Hopper CEO to board
Summary
I look forward to contributing to its continued success and expansion.The all-equity round was led by Columbus, Ohios Drive Capital and saw participation from fellow existing investor, New-York-based Outsiders Fund. Since the last round, Planned grew its revenue by a multiple of 30 and its annual recurring revenue is multiple millions, Bonin claimed.Inovia Capital, which previously invested in the startup at the seed stage, sold its stake as part of Planneds $24.5-million CAD Series A round in 2022.The company launched AI capabilities in June last year and Bonin plans to put the funding toward product development, particularly improving the platforms ability to book travel. The platform has an AI agent and users can ask it for recommendations on things like which hotel is the most inexpensive, has wheelchair access, and a varied menu for dietary considerations. Then, the AI agent can put all those suggestions into a comparison table.RELATED: Event platform Planned raises $4.7 million as it hopes for return to in-person eventsBonin said Lalondes experience in the travel industry will help the company as it looks to scale. Its already in the United States and this year, Planned opened an office in Amsterdam to target the European market and intends to open one in Singapore to target the Asia-Pacific region.Currently, Planneds platform can coordinate events that have up to 25,000 attendees, Bonin said, and the company counts large firms in the fashion and beauty industry and the tech industry, such as Google and Amazon, as customers.And though the startup didnt plan Googles developer conference this year, Bonin said the new funding will allow it to help orchestrate events like this in the future.With large events, you need a bit more humans in the loop, like, you need to have someone that they can call, said Bonin.