New app could consolidate meeting planning(2)

Li compares his company to the US-based Cvent, a Web-based company that offers software systems for meetings. Cvent went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013 and raised $117.6 million. Li's company received an investment of about 10 million yuan in 2013 and is about to finish its second-round financing of an estimated 100 million yuan this year.

Li says the meetings-services industry is burgeoning, especially in China where people seem to love meetings. In addition, the maturity of social network apps promises a big opportunity: when people chat in a private online group for some time, it's natural for them to organize a meeting offline.

"We're very lucky to hug both the Web and the mobile accesses," says Li.

Many meeting sites are chosen for their attractions as well. Cities like Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi province famous for Terra-Cotta Warriors, the island city of Sanya and the coastal city of Qingdao are among popular meeting destinations in China.

However, the new trend among Chinese companies is to go outside of China to have meetings. As more Chinese companies, such as those in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, expand their businesses overseas, their need for overseas meeting sites has grown.

Li says they are producing apps and software systems to satisfy these new demands.

Although Eventown is concentrating on business users, in the meantime, Li says they will consider offering mobile services for individuals such as wedding sites and gatherings of friends.

"I'm sure young entrepreneurs born after the 1990s can quickly get into the mobile Web market with their apps to attract young users in a short time. But for O2O mobile Web services like ours, resources and channels are not easily available," adds Li, when talking about potential competitors.