Third-quarter revenue for meetings management company Cvent
increased 13.1 per cent year over year to US$134.1 million, the company
reported this week.
Cvent founder and CEO Reggie Aggarwal during an earnings
call acknowledged that the delta variant of Covid-19 had a negative effect on
the meetings industry and slowed the return of in-person events, but called its
effect "limited".
"The silver lining is that we were able to accelerate
our growth during this time," Aggarwal said. "The limited impact of
the delta variant really showed our business' true resiliency. Quarter three
2021 is the first quarter we've grown since we felt the impact of the pandemic,
and it's a great foundation for our future growth."
Aggarwal attributed the growth to factors including what he
called significant new business signed during the quarter, existing clients expanding
their usage of the Cvent platform and product innovation.
The company reported third-quarter revenue for its Event
Cloud product for planners of $92.5 million, representing a 27.2 per cent
year-over-year increase, according to Cvent CFO and SVP William Newman. Revenue
for its Hospitality Cloud product for suppliers declined 9.2 per cent during
the period to $41.6 million. "We are seeing signs of recovery in the
Hospitality Cloud as the rate of decline improved significantly relative to the
second quarter of 2021, when it declined by 23.2 per cent," he said.
Cvent also increased its fourth quarter and full-year 2021
guidance based on the strong revenue performance during the third quarter. The
company expects fourth-quarter revenue in the range of $139.9 million to $141.1
million, representing increases of 21.1 per cent and 22.2 per cent,
respectively, compared with the fourth quarter of 2020. Full-year revenue
guidance is in the range of $514.1 million to $515.3 million, representing
increases of 3.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
Cvent in July announced its intention to go public via a
merger with a special purpose acquisition company, Dragoneer Growth
Opportunities Corp II, at a valuation of $5.3 billion. That merger is expected
to close during the fourth quarter of 2021.