Naboo has acquired UK-based meetings and events specialist pro-ven in a move that strengthens its position in the rapidly evolving M&E spend management sector.
The deal sees pro-ven become Naboo’s UK headquarters, adding its enterprise client base and procurement expertise to the Paris-headquartered firm's global technology platform.
Founded in 2005, pro-ven manages meetings and events spend for UK, European and global organisations, offering venue sourcing, supplier negotiation, approvals, invoicing, payments and lodge card management. Naboo, meanwhile, has positioned itself as an AI-powered M&E spend management platform, operating from eight offices worldwide, including London and Singapore.
The combined business now manages £225m worth of meetings and events spend globally. Naboo claims this makes it the largest pure-play provider in the M&E spend management and venue sourcing market.
The acquisition follows a busy period for Naboo, which recently unveiled a new brand identity, expanded into Asia-Pacific with a Singapore office and continues to invest heavily in AI-driven sourcing and payments technology.
Julian Laxon, founder and md of pro-ven, will remain with the business to help drive Naboo's UK growth strategy.
"I am incredibly excited for our clients and our team to make such a step into the AI-native world, which I believe is the right technology to create a world leader in the M&E market," said Laxon.
The acquisition comes as meetings and events attracts increasing attention from procurement teams seeking greater visibility and control over a category that has historically been fragmented across agencies, suppliers and booking channels.
Naboo argues that advances in AI are making it commercially viable to manage meetings and events sourcing, contracting and payments at scale, while delivering savings and compliance benefits for corporate buyers.
"The future category leader in the M&E spend management market will be a pure player," said Maxime Eduardo, founder and CEO of Naboo. "Both event planners and procurement leaders have very high expectations in terms of user experience, embedded compliance, payment simplification, spend analytics and transparency. It cannot be achieved as a side business by TMCs who are still very much focused on transforming the transient travel experience. Together with pro-ven, that is the leader we are building."
M&IT editor Paul Harvey is a journalist with more than 15 years of experience. He began his career in the local press, working for various titles across the north. Since joining M&IT in 2013, he has become a trusted and respected voice in the sector, championing event professionals and reporting on all aspects of the events industry for the brand.
