Vamos

Vamos operates as a mobile-first, event discovery platform developed to simplify how users find and engage with local events. Founded in August 2012 in Berlin, Germany, the company was established by Luis-Daniel Alegria, Jens Dressler, David Prentell, and Erik Collinder. The concept originated when co-founders Alegria and Prentell struggled to find a party in Amsterdam, sparking the idea for a dedicated event discovery application. Alegria, the CEO, brought a background in event organization, business management from Hyper Island, and marketing strategy from firms like AKQA. Dressler, the CTO, is a computer scientist with a decade of software development experience, including roles at Intel.

The platform functions by aggregating event listings from a multitude of sources, including social media platforms like Facebook and major ticket vendors such as Eventbrite, Ticketmaster, Eventim, and StubHub. It presents users with a curated guide to happenings in their city, spanning categories from art and entertainment to food, fashion, and club nights. The service was designed with a social layer, enabling users to see which events their friends were attending, share events, and follow specific venues for updates. This social integration was a core aspect from its launch, initially leveraging Facebook to populate event data and social connections.

The company's business model centers on generating leads for event organizers and earning a commission from ticket sales facilitated through its platform and from event promotions. After its initial launch, Vamos secured an undisclosed seed funding round in October 2012 from Heilemann Ventures. The firm later raised a six-figure round in 2014 from investors including SoundCloud co-founder Erik Wahl, which supported the development of version 3.0 of the app, a new web interface, and a recommendation engine. This update aimed to personalize the user experience by tailoring event suggestions to an individual's location, preferences, and profile. Ultimately, Vamos was acqui-hired by Jodel, with the acquisition completed on May 31, 2023.

Keywords: event discovery, mobile event guide, local events app, social event planning, Berlin startup, Luis-Daniel Alegria, Jens Dressler, event aggregation, ticket sales commission, event promotion, getvamos.com, acqui-hired, Jodel, Ticketmaster integration, Eventbrite partner, social event sharing, venue following, personalized event recommendations, Heilemann Ventures, event tech