Worktopia, the first direct online booking engine for meeting space in hotels, airport lounges and other venues, has announced that it has completed a $5 million financing from a syndicate led by New York-based DFJ Gotham Ventures.
It will deploy the additional capital to drive expansion of its network of hotel partners, to build on its foundation of corporate travel distribution relationships and to extend its leadership position.
Worktopia is bringing the $24 billion small-meetings segment of the $165 billion U.S. meetings and event industry online. More importantly, it has been called the “holy grail” of small meetings procurement for its ability to let companies book meeting space, A/V, catering and group room-nights online for the first time.
“Eighty percent of all corporate off-site meetings are for under 100 attendees, yet the process of researching rate and availability information and comparing alternatives has been a time consuming, archaic process until now. Companies of all sizes are now using Worktopia to achieve shorter planning lead times, cost savings and more visibility on spend,” said Jed Katz, Managing Director of DFJ Gotham Ventures.
Originally posted on October 31, 2007 @ 5:43 am