Ghent-based Exhibitly raises €1.4 million to bring AI personalisation to B2B events
Exhibitly, a Ghent-based EventTech startup that brings AI personalisation to B2B events, has raised €1.4 million in a pre-Seed round to expand the team, develop the product and accelerate international rollout.
The round was led by New School VC, with participation from 100IN, Allusion Ventures and a group of private investors including Louis Jonckheere, Jeroen De Wit, Pieter Vanermen, and Tanguy Serraes.
“An event website is an organiser’s most important marketing asset, yet it delivers the same generic experience to every visitor. A Fortune 500 CEO and an intern see exactly the same content, despite having completely different priorities. If visitors can’t quickly see why the event matters to them, they leave,” said Hendrik Franck, co-founder and CEO of Exhibitly.
Exhibitly was founded in 2025 by Hendrik Franck and Brent Coppens. The duo previously built ReadyEvent, a project management tool for event planners, under the Start it @KBC programme. However, after a year with no real traction, they shut it down. After two quick pivots, they landed on the idea for Exhibitly. “You only learn what a market actually needs by building the wrong product first,” said Franck.
The company states it assists B2B event organisers in increasing attendance through AI-driven hyper-personalisation. Its platform creates personalised “why attend” reports that highlight the most relevant exhibitors, sessions, and other key event features for each visitor. For organisers, it claims to present a simple, scalable solution to convert undecided leads into attendees by providing 1:1 tailored experiences with minimal setup required.
The company notes that although trade show budgets keep growing, conversion rates are falling for structural reasons. Attending a trade show is not an impulsive decision, so visitors have to take into account costs such as flights, hotels, and time commitment. Therefore, potential visitors want to confirm the event’s relevance before committing. They seek this information on the event website, but unfortunately, many drop off at this point.
Exhibitly addresses this by integrating an AI layer over existing event websites. Visitors input their job title and company, and within 10 seconds, they get a personalised mini-website highlighting the most relevant sessions, speakers, and exhibitors.
The company reports that on average, 30% of visitors who use its platform click through to the registration page, 10 to 20 times higher than on a standard event website. For organisers, Exhibitly claims that the setup process is simple, with the platform automatically analysing the full event website and enhancing the content with AI, without requiring any technical integrations.
The company reported that in nine months, the startup signed 114 events from leading organisers, including global market leader Informa, Easyfairs, Hyve Group and the Dubai World Trade Centre. From Ghent, Exhibitly now serves clients in the United Kingdom, the United States, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The startup has been cashflow positive from day one.
With the fresh capital, it aims to grow the team from three to seven people and to accelerate both product development and commercial expansion. Alongside its existing solution, Exhibitly is building a second product specifically for exhibiting companies. While the current offering targets event organisers, this new product is aimed at the 4.5 million companies exhibiting each year.
“By the end of 2027, we aim to support more than 1,000 events worldwide and establish Exhibitly as the global reference in B2B event intelligence,” concludes Franck.
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