Easol

Easol operates a business-to-business software platform for what it calls "experience commerce": e-commerce tooling designed specifically for creators and operators of experiences such as festivals, destination events, tours, adventure travel, wellness retreats and location-based entertainment venues. The platform is positioned as an all-in-one alternative to assembling multiple ticketing, booking, website and payment tools, and lets operators sell on their own domain while retaining ownership of customer data.

The product set spans a no/low-code website and store builder with hosting, domains, virtual waiting rooms and reserved carts; booking and sales tools covering tickets, timed entry, packages, add-ons, upsells, scheduling, group sales, digital proposals and invoices; payments and point of sale including cards and wallets, instant bank transfer, deposits, instalment plans, group split payments, multi-currency FX, configurable fees, taxes and gratuities, booking protection, and on-site walk-in sales, check-in and ticket scanning; marketing and CRM with automated emails, promotions and vouchers, ambassador tracking links and abandoned-cart recovery; data and operations with custom dashboards, pre-built and API-based custom reporting, live capacity management and box office tools; a support module with a unified inbox linked to booking data and customer self-service booking changes; and a capital/financing product offering revenue-linked repayments and a fixed fee typically between 5% and 12% of the loan amount.

As of the current site, Easol markets "agentic AI" collaborator agents, including an AI support agent that resolves enquiries and updates bookings and an AI sales agent that responds to leads and drafts proposals. Named customers cited across sources include Swingers, Afro Nation, Defected, SurfYogaBeer, Love Trails, Rise Festival, Wanderlust, Ibiza Rocks, Global Cycle Network, Rapha, Envision Festival, Untravelled Paths, The Sunday Times, FWB Fest, Schellraiser Festival and Sol Seeker.

Founding story

Co-founders Ben and Lisa Simpson came from the event organizing side of the industry. They co-created Rise Festival in 2014, described as a snowsports and music festival in the French Alps with 5,000 attendees, and in 2016 launched Beyond Adventures, a series of adventure travel experiences in remote locations including the Sahara desert and the Swedish Archipelago. According to the company's account, the idea originated on a trip to the Sahara when Lisa suggested throwing a party there. Running these events required stitching together five separate platforms with multiple transaction fees, which prompted the founders to build a subscription-based alternative with lower fees that would let creators control the customer journey end to end. The platform MVP launched in 2017, with Beyond Sahara the first experience sold on it.

Business model

B2B SaaS sold directly to experience businesses. TechCrunch reported a subscription model with three tiers priced at GBP 5, GBP 54 and GBP 207 per month, with a commission scale that varies by tier; the founders framed this as deliberately lower fees than the third-party platforms and marketplaces they replaced. The platform additionally processes payments and, more recently, offers a working-capital financing product charging a fixed fee of typically 5-12% of the loan amount.

Recurring subscription fees across tiered plans plus transaction commissions on bookings processed through the platform, per TechCrunch's description of the pricing model. The Capital product generates revenue from a fixed percentage fee on advances rather than interest.

Traction

By December 2021 Easol reported growing creator numbers tenfold since its 2020 seed round, a 913% increase in customer base, 50x growth in transactions and 30x growth in platform spend, with software used across roughly 130 countries. By February 2024 the company said it served experience creators in over 135 countries. Site case studies cite outcomes such as a 14% increase in spend per head for Swingers, a $4.3m revenue increase for Afro Nation, and 33% of Defected sales through payment plans. Y Combinator lists team size at 70.

Latest developments

The current website emphasises an AI "digital workforce" of agentic collaborators for support and sales, plus a Capital financing product promising funding within 48 hours. Reported platform outcome claims include +30% site conversions, +20-24% basket spend and 200% ROI in six months.