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Experience commerce technology platform Easol has announced partnerships with a raft of leading festivals.
Easol will be the official booking platform partner for Afro Nation Portugal & Ghana, along with the UK’s Secret Garden Party and El Dorado.
The company, which launched a new financing solution for festival organisers in the autumn, says clients will be able to manage many aspects of their business on one platform – from setting their own booking fees to owning data – with complete end-to-end control of their brand, customer journey and finances.
“We’re super-proud to be partnering with these amazing festivals and feel honoured to be a part of their journey,” says Easol CEO Ben Simpson. “My co-founder Lisa and I started Easol to build a ‘creator-first’ alternative to traditional ticketing and third party booking platforms, that empowers rather than limits experience businesses and along with our team we are excited to support our new partners towards success in 2023 and beyond.”
“Having complete control and access to all elements of the festival organisation will be critical”
Suzi Sendama, head of commercial at Secret Garden Party, says: “When it comes to organising Secret Garden Party each year, we need a technology solution that is intuitive and easy to use so we can easily update our website with new information, add things to it as our festival grows and develops. We haven’t been able to do this with any other solution or partner except Easol.
“Having complete control and access to all elements of the festival organisation will also be critical, including control over our finances.”
Easol unveiled the full capabilities of its all-in-one toolkit to power festival organisers at its Festivals Showcase event streamed in September.
“Being able to upsell everything on one booking journey where everything is all working in-sync, with our own branding, will only help us sell more whilst providing a much better booking experience for our customers too,” adds Luke Wolfman, co-founder of El Dorado.
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Easol, a festival, travel and event ecommerce startup in London, is launching a new financing solution designed for festival organisers.
According to the company, Easol Capital will create a “fairer, flexible and transparent financing process that puts control back in the hands of festival organisers”.
Organisers that take out an Easol Capital-facilitated loan will pay a fixed fee that is a percentage of a borrowed amount – typically 5-12% – rather than an interest rate.
Similarly, repayments will be a fixed percentage of weekly sales which means if revenue slows down, repayments do too.
Loans are expected to be repaid within 4–8 months but the company says that organisers can repay early or easily access more capital if their circumstances change.
Easol says organisers can create a free application within minutes, and receive a decision within a day. If approved, the loan can be withdrawn immediately.
Loans are currently live in the UK and the US, with organisers able to apply for between £1,000 and £1.5 million.
“We feel that organisers have not been given the flexibility that they require from many traditional ticketing platforms”
The company says there are plans to expand loan sizes and enter most European markets in the next few months.
“We feel that festival and event organisers have not been given the flexibility that they require from many traditional ticketing platforms and finance solutions, for too long,” says Ben Simpson, co-founder and CEO of Easol.
“We’re super proud to launch Easol Capital so that we can offer an alternative that works with organisers rather than tying them into terms which may not work for them in terms of cash flow flexibility and in the long term. More than ever, the pandemic has highlighted to us the importance of flexibility and adaptability, particularly given the unique nature of the festival sales cycle.
“With the simple and fixed fee structure of Easol Capital, there are fairer interest rates and no nasty surprises of the cost of capital. We believe there is a better way that works for everyone, and we’re excited to be leading this change in the industry!”
Benjamin Sasse, co-founder of Bulgarian festival Meadows in the Mountains, comments: “We secured funding from Easol Capital’s partners in its Beta phase and it has been a game changer for our festival. The whole application process was so easy, and we had the money in our bank within 24 hours.
“Our festival requires a huge amount of logistics and third-party suppliers to help build the site on our Bulgarian mountain, and also to provide accommodation and food. Having access to capital during this time is crucial for us to be able to pay people on time and manage our cash flow across the different stages of the festival. Easol is the only provider on the market that gives the flexibility we need. They understand how the sales cycle works and have created a perfect solution.”
Easol will be outlining the benefits of Easol Capital at its Festivals Showcase event, streamed globally on 22 September.
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