The event management market in France is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 7% from 2024 to 2029. This growth is attributed to an increase in corporate hospitality and experiential events. Paris-based Naboo is redefining this landscape by introducing automation that streamlines event planning.
UK and European expansion plans
In a recent development, Naboo secured €20 million funding, marking the biggest ever Series A in event tech. The round was led by Notion Capital, which recently invested in Nelly and Hybrid Energy. Previously, the company raised €9 million in funding last year.
With this investment, Naboo will answer particular demand in the UK market throughout 2025 as well as expand its European footprint into Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Italy. The company’s pan-European ambitions will replace disparate domestic booking engines.
In expanding its service, the company is also answering the demand for more local and sustainable travel packages. The company’s name speaks to sustainability, Naboo being one of the only planets in Star Wars replete with beautiful, organic nature.
Itxaso del Palacio, General Partner at Notion Capital said, “The event organisation space is ripe for disruption. Despite corporations increasing their event budgets, the sector remains anchored in outdated concierge models and software that hasn’t evolved in decades. Naboo is redefining this landscape by introducing automation that streamlines event planning while elevating the experience for organisers and attendees alike. By prioritising financial transparency and compliance, Naboo is not just making event management easier—it’s setting a new standard for the industry.”
How was the idea born?
Naboo was founded in 2022 by Maxime Eduardo, Antoine Servant, Lucien Bredin, and Jean-Louis Villeminot. Maxime graduated from CentraleSupelec and Columbia University NYC. He then started his career as a consultant at Oliver Wyman, where he met Antoine Servant (COO).
Antoine graduated from HEC and started his career at Oliver Wyman where he met Maximen, and stayed there for 10 years. Lucien Bredin, CMO, in charge of Marketing and Product, graduated from CELSA and has spent the past 10 years building startups with Jean-Louis, the CTO. In charge of Tech Data and AI. JL graduated from CentraleSupelec where he met Maxime, and then from ESCP.
Booking.com of corporate events
Naboo provides a software solution designed to simplify the booking and organisation of B2B events worldwide. Similar to what Airbnb and Booking.com brought to the B2B travel industry, Naboo’s platform allows companies to book a complete seminar with a single click at a transparent price. The platform includes an event booking tool, an app for event management, and a solution to centralise, track, and optimise event spending for procurement and finance directors.
Its corporate event concierge service enables the booking of venues, catering, transportation, team-building activities, with a “white glove” service approach for everything from business meals to seminars to large-scale annual retreats, nurturing both employee and client relationships alike.
The platform utilises AI in the back-end to embrace and enhance the best in personal, tailored, human service on the front end. Its strategy is to automate any administrative and/or low value-added tasks through Tech and AI automation so that its employees focus close to 100% of their time on delivering high-end service to customers and partners.
In two years, Naboo has facilitated over €60 million in event bookings, with a primary focus on Europe, supported by a team of more than 100 dedicated professionals. As per the company, nearly 10% of the French stock market’s (CAC 40) listed companies’ events were booked and organised through Naboo’s platform. It has inked contracts with large corporations, including Google, Société Générale, Veolia, Arkema, Thales or even Tech scale-up such as Qonto.
Maxime Eduardo, co-founder and CEO, Naboo, said, “What we’d predicted came true. There’s been an explosion of team-building activities and in-person events due to the rise of remote work. It’s all about fostering social interaction, creating a feeling of belonging, which engenders employee loyalty and commitment.”
Fred Viet, Chief Sales Officer of Aircall, noted, “At Aircall, we needed a global solution to support us in organising our events in a simple, effortless and local way. Being in New York City myself, it is very comfortable for me to use Naboo to organise my events anywhere in Europe.”
Laure Pechalmbec, Purchasing Category Manager, Marketing and Communication, Europe, of ARKEMA, said, “As a procurement director, I recognise that MICE represents a uniquely challenging category in procurement. The spending is often dispersed across various departments within an organisation, categorised inconsistently as overhead, travel, or event expenses. This fragmentation makes achieving a consolidated and centralised view of MICE expenditure exceptionally difficult.”
