Whova

Whova, a San Diego-based company founded in 2013, provides an all-in-one event management software platform. The company was founded by Dr. Yuanyuan (YY) Zhou, a computer scientist and professor at the University of California, San Diego, along with co-founders Soyeon Park, Weiwei Xiong, and Tim Sheng. Dr. Zhou's extensive background in software reliability and data mining at institutions like Princeton University and her experience founding two other startups, Emphora and Pattern Insight, directly informed Whova's technological foundation. The company spun out of UC San Diego with the mission to revolutionize attendee engagement and networking at events.

The firm primarily serves event organizers across various sectors, including education, research, non-profits, and corporate industries. Clients range from small organizations to large enterprises like NASA, TEDx, L'Oreal, and Stanford University. Whova operates on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model, generating revenue by providing its integrated platform to manage the entire event lifecycle. While specific pricing is customized, it is typically on a per-event or usage-based model.

Whova's platform is designed to streamline event logistics for organizers and enhance the experience for attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors. Key features include online registration and ticketing, event website creation, agenda management, and attendee check-in. For engagement, the platform offers a mobile event app with features like personalized schedules, live polling, Q&A sessions, community boards for discussion, and direct messaging to facilitate networking before, during, and after the event. It supports in-person, virtual, and hybrid event formats, integrating live streaming and offering virtual booths for exhibitors. Sponsors and exhibitors benefit from lead retrieval tools, such as business card scanning, and increased brand visibility. The platform also provides organizers with detailed analytics on attendee engagement and session popularity to inform future planning.

Keywords: event management software, mobile event app, conference app, virtual event platform, hybrid events, attendee engagement, event networking, event registration, event marketing, lead retrieval, event logistics, agenda management, speaker management, event analytics, trade show management, corporate events, non-profit events, educational conferences, online registration tool, virtual conference solution