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AladdinB2B.com

Redefining trade shows - the future of trade.

UAE
Market: Internet and IT, Trade, Artificial Intelligence
Stage of the project: Operating business

Date of last change: 25.03.2021
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Idea

Aladdin is a technology that allows trade shows to happen ONLINE!

Since we last won 1st place in Dubai Unicorn Battle, we have grown our sales by 40% YoY! We raised our Seed Fund from investor Tim Draper. Now we are growing fast and will open a big series A on April 1st.

With Aladdin, you can attend as many trade shows, anywhere in the world from your phone or laptop. Overnight the $137 billion Trade Show industry went into lockdown - and we have the solution. Aladdin is digitizing the B2B trade world.

Current Status

More than USD 600k in sales. We just closed our Seed Round with Tim Draper.

We have 75 paid clients, with 75% of them being repeated clients. 50% are major trade shows with more than 10,000 attendees and exhibitors, and 50% are trade events for governments and pavilions.

The largest B2B directory in the Middle East & Africa, this data is not available online. We are 3x times bigger than SAP Ariba database.

After dominating our local market, we moved up and started winning major global B2B players; Made-in-China.com, the second-largest B2B platform in the world after Ali Baba, is using our technology to run their online trade fairs.

We are about to open our round within a month to scale the business, we will spend 40% of this round on Sales & Marketing, 40% on product developments, and 20% on administrative costs. We have a co-lead investor.

Market

1- There are 32,000 major exhibitions in the world (well defined and we have a list of them). We ran a test outreach campaign and out of 100, we can close two immediately and 6-8 within 12 months as per their exhibitions date and budget cycle.

2- Governermnet trade programs, i.e. Trade Missions, Hosted Buyers Programs, Online Trade Missions, etc.

Problem or Opportunity

Last year more than 300 million people attended 32,000 business exhibitions around the world. These companies spent around 137 billion dollars in the process, and what did they achieve?

Only 5% got some kind of return on investment. 95% of the companies we’ve surveyed say they don’t get enough new sales to make the journey worthwhile. Going to an exhibition was a lottery: show your face, hope you’ll find new business, or at least build up brand awareness.

Then coronavirus hit, and this $137 billion dollar industry stopped in its tracks. Of course, face-to-face exhibitions will return at some point. But why should we go back to business as usual, spending all that money for an ROI of 5%? Surely there is a better way.

The solution is Aladdin: a web-based platform where exhibitors and visitors can trade. Buyers can save money when buying, exhibitors can make money when selling, and reduce CAC. Best of all, your company can be at several exhibitions at the same time, without “being” at any actual event. If we get a second wave of virus - or any other disruptive event - you can still attend an exhibition, meet new buyers and find new products. Trade show participants don't need to rely on luck, interactions are pre-targeted, meetings are pre-qualified, and they select who they want to meet before the show actually happens.

At one event - the Aladdin system created over four thousand meetings in just four days by matching buyers and sellers in an online platform.

Solution (product or service)

AladdinB2B helps event organizers give their customers - the exhibitors - a better return on their investment than rival events.

Before coronavirus, there were 4.5 million companies exhibiting around the world. We see them as main customers. We don’t want to put them to stop expanding their business- we want to help them adapt to a new, better way of working.
As an exhibition organizer, you can’t invite exhibiting companies to travel halfway around the world, risk their own safety, put up with social distancing measures, AND run the risk that the whole event might be canceled - and after all that, only offer them a 5% return on investment.

People still like doing business with people, they enjoy meeting and chatting. However, the world is shifting to digital. Many giant trade shows were canceled due to restrictions in travel, social gatherings etc. With Aladdin, those barriers are eliminated. Organizers can save their shows while adapting to the digital age and optimizing the latest technologies.

Eventually, face-to-face events will return. One of the advantages of Aladdin is that it stimulates all trade show models - face-to-face, online and hybrid. Shows could be much more efficient if the in-person moments are supported by a robust online trading platform. Digital will always offer value that isn't available in traditional methods. Working with Aladdin means you will always have a Plan B if you have to switch suddenly to an online-only event.

Competitors

Direct Competitors Alibaba online trade show (they are focused on Asia and are not a favorable platform in the US, EU and the MENA), Ariba — SAP

Advantages or differentiators

-We combine events management + 360 trade activities in one cycle.
-We focus on the Middle East and have accumulated approx. 300,000 B2B detailed profiles in the MENA
-Aladdin team are experts in exhibitions
-CEO holds 15 years in the Exhibitions Industry
-CTO holds 15 years in Technology
-CMO holds15 years in marketing for online trade
-Exceptional team of CXO, and Head of Development.

Finance

We have a price list here:

The average event license is USD7-10k (Events can be from 500 to 50,000 attendees) and we charge USD4/attendee (Visitors and Exhibitors)

https://aladdinb2b.com/#pricing-packages

We are expecting to generate USD67Million by 2025

Business model

Our business model is a SaaS subscription model, paid per event / monthly / yearly

Money will be spent on

Hiring the best team, developing a technology that will transform the trade industry globally, and building a Sales & Marketing machine.

Offer for investor

We did not open Series A yet, we will open it on the 1st of April 2021.

We gave early access to 6 investors out of which 3 are interested and we are in negotiations.

Team or Management

Mentors & Advisors

Risks

Large players decided to move to this business, for example, Linkedin or Alibaba; But this could be also an opportunity if we are fast and good enough they may buy us. With proper funding, we could be acquired by these companies within 5-6 years after we build a billion-dollar app.

Incubation/Acceleration programs accomplishment

- AladdinB2B is 500 startup batch 23 S.F.
- Draper Venture Network 2021

Won the competition and other awards

We did not participate in competitions, we are busy building something great and we have sold it and clients love it and renewed.

The only challenge we participate in is this one :-) we found it to be a cool, unique experience with great value to offer. And we will be lucky to be accepted to compete again.

We won the last 1st place award for the Unicorn Battle in March 2020 in Dubai.

Photos

Photo 1 - Redefining trade shows - the future of trade.

Product Video

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Idea
Current Status
Market
Problem or Opportunity
Solution (product or service)
Competitors
Advantages or differentiators
Finance
Invested in previous rounds, $
Business model
Money will be spent on
Offer for investor
Team or Management
Mentors & Advisors
Lead investor
Risks
Incubation/Acceleration programs accomplishment
Won the competition and other awards
Invention/Patent
Photos
Product Video
Presentation