Event apps in under 3 minutes.
Have you ever attended an event but weren’t sure what panels to purchase tickets for? Have you ever had to download several apps for different events and ended up with a cluttered smartphone? In the meetings industry, most event organizers are currently able to monetize by only selling tickets or sponsorships. On the other hand, events are not engaging with attendees in a fully personalized way anymore; only 8% of event attendees feel that they have total engagement with the events they attend. Attendees actually feel less surprised and are less likely to return to a similar event after having a less-than-satisfactory experience.
Rebus is here to solve all those problems. Rebus is a platform that allows event organizers to build customized apps for their event in less than 3 minutes. Rebus’ machine learning-based algorithm maximizes event revenue up to 45% and is the only event solution that can predict attendance rates, potential attendee engagement, sales and even attendees’ deep desires.
Rebus was founded by Jose, David, and Juliana. All three were active in the innovation environment in Colombia. Jose is a recognized innovation speaker in Colombia on the subject of prototyping, Juliana has helped companies develop innovation strategy plans, and David used to work on corporate innovations at one of the top 5 banks in Colombia. Through a partnership with their companies, the three met and hit it off right away.
The team then met Oscar, a cofounder and angel investor, who was a SVP in one of biggest banking groups in Colombia, at an innovation event. Oscar had a concern that there were a lot of things going on at events but very little engagement. People were not so sure what to buy or attend. Here was a real concern from a professional who attends a lot of events. So the Rebus team started thinking.
There was limited competition out there; most competition dealt with content management and content-based platforms. David, Juliana, and Jose really thought about changing the event industry by building a platform for event management, one that people would constantly look for. They wanted to enhance the event experience, and monetize events for their organizers to improve attendee engagement and ROI.
They developed a team when they had a concrete idea, and then brought on their CTO Juan Pablo. Rebus explored Progressive Web Apps (PWA) that were built for users who didn’t want to download any more applications and wanted a better, easier, and richer experience. In late 2015, the team had a meeting with the Google Maps team to learn how web apps can enhance experiences. They built the first version in January 2016 and soon the biggest financial convention in Colombia wanted to use it. From there, they started to understand what worked and what didn’t. They also assumed roles inside the team: David as CEO, Juliana as CMO, Oscar as CFO, and Jose as a Strategy Advisor.
The Rebus team’s inspiration comes from achieving things and believing that nothing is impossible. For example, last year the team applied to AppCircus, a global app showcase platform, to represent Colombia. Thousands of tech companies applied, and because of their great product, increasing traction, and strong team, Rebus was elected the representative of their city in the finals. After competing in a pitch contest, Rebus ultimately won and represented Colombia at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. The team believed, worked hard, and achieved their goal.
Rebus came to Quake with a single goal: to stay. The company is growing quickly in Latin America with more than 25 loyal customers, but wants to put down roots in the United States because their product is a valuable asset for event organizers here as well. Through Quake’s accelerator, the Rebus team is looking to build its network in the United States. While the team has the know-how in terms of operating, acquiring customers, and developing products, they want the guidance to do it better. And while funding is a perk, David stressed that this opportunity is not just about the money, but about how Rebus grows as a team and becomes a global market company. At Quake, we’re super excited to be involved in this opportunity.
