Glue Up, an Event and Membership Management SaaS platform, announced Tuesday that it has raised its Series B funding in a bid to help boost the company’s continued global expansion in emerging and developing markets. GSR Ventures, a key investor of startup giants Didi and Ele.me, led the funding round.
Glue Up’s rapid growth into emerging markets will help more organizations “go digital”, and with the new round of funding, the Company will continue R&D investments that ensure customers will continue to bring their communities closer together. Following current trends, the MICE industry is expected to reach over $1,439.3 Billion by 2025 thanks to event-tech.
Allen Zhu, Managing Director of GSR Ventures, will also join the board of Glue Up.
Founded in 2013, Eric L. Schmidt and Olivia Jingshu Ji created Glue Up out of the frustration that many event and organization managers face when dealing with events and campaigns where data is often siloed and easily corrupted, lost, or confusing. The core product, the Glue Up platform, combines a CRM with event management, membership management, email marketing, mobile apps, and more, into an all-in-one cloud platform that consolidates data and improves engagement.
Schmidt says, “Glue Up has learned a lot working with our customers across the world to have a product that is easy to use and deploy. Beyond North America, Glue Up has a unique understanding, in-depth insights, and operational capabilities in the markets of Asia Pacific, China, Africa, Russia, etc., where there is a big opportunity to digitize events and entire organizations.”
Glue Up’s winning formula has made an impact in the APAC region, where phases of the product have rolled out early in the company’s history and continuously improved upon over time. In the past 3 years, Glue Up has expanded operations across the globe. The company is also opening a new office in India later this month. Facebook, Daimler and KPMG are clients of Glue Up, and other multinational brands are eager to see the platform come to their markets with increased localized support.
Zhu says that, “Glue Up has elite international teams across it's organization. Therefore, many international enterprises become its paid clients so rapidly within just one year after its entering new markets. It's quite smart for Glue Up to put the Event Marketing Cloud and Membership Management Cloud as its entry point. The four advantages are clear; international teams, innovative products, high-quality global clients, and the integration between SaaS and payments under different scenarios. Glue Up is one of the few startup companies that has the qualification to be successful in global markets. I am confident that Glue Up can become an influential unicorn in the SaaS industry."
Olivia comments that, “We are very appreciative for this round of funding led by GSR Ventures. With the rapid increase of clients, we still need to continue to put a lot of effort into product innovation, customer success and other areas of our operations, with the goal of striving to provide our clients with the best product."
The new injection also is a bid to expand regional Glue Up offices and upgrade them from sales offices to full support teams for their respective markets including customer success staff, local currency payment processing, and other services.
About Glue Up
Glue Up works to transform the way professional communities enable and enrich relationships. Their software solutions generate efficiency, more revenue for multinationals, chambers of commerce, and associations in more than 50 countries worldwide. www.glueup.com
About GSR Ventures
GSR Ventures is a global venture capital firm focused on early-stage companies in consumer technology, enterprise software, healthcare services, robotics, fintech, new media, and emerging technologies. GSR Ventures has led the early rounds in Datavisor, Deep 6, DeepMap, DiDi, Firework, FunPlus, Kinsa, Plus AI, and Qunar. GSR Ventures currently manages $3 billion across its funds. www.gsrventures.com
About the Founders
Eric L. Schmidt, CEO
As CEO of Glue Up, Eric L. Schmidt is focused on delivering cloud solutions that transform the way professional communities enable and enrich relationships. Glue Up has offices in 10 countries and clients in over 50. Eric’s focus is to continue building the best product for Glue Up’s clients and expanding the company’s presence in emerging and developing markets around the world. Over the last 18 years, Eric has founded and incubated several companies from the ground up; including China Entrepreneurs which was the top community organization for more than 50,000 entrepreneurs, hosting more than 100 conferences annually. He holds both a M.S. and B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Olivia Jingshu Ji, President
As Co-Founder and President of Glue Up, Olivia maintains extensive experience in the marketing and internet industries. She has developed several technology companies from the ground up and has served as a senior business leader in multinational enterprises. Olivia is Founding Director of Beijing Hefeng Art Charity Foundation and President of Women in Leadership China. She received her bachelor's degree from Beijing's Capital University of Economics and Business and holds a Master of Commerce from the University of Sydney, with a double major in marketing and accounting.
About the Investors
Allen Zhu, Managing Director
Allen Zhu is a Managing Director with GSR Ventures, where he focuses on investments in early-stage companies on the internet, mobile and new media sectors. Mr. Zhu led the Series A investments for DiDi, Ele.me, ofo, Yingke, and Shanghai Great Wisdom, earning him a spot on 2019 Forbes VC 50 and the Midas List Top Tech Investors. Prior to GSR Ventures, Mr. Zhu co-founded eBaoTech, and has also worked for McKinsey Greater China, where he earned deep consulting and implementation experience. Mr. Zhu holds a Masters in International Economics from Fudan University, and a B.S. in Telecom from Shanghai Jiaotong University.
Contact Glue Up
Press Release & Media Inquiries pr@glueup.com
Partnership Inquiries partners@glueup.com
