Poken

Palo Alto, United States Founded: 2007 • Age: 19 yrs Acquired By GES
NFC tools for event networking and lead generation are offered.

About Poken

Poken is a Technology company based in Palo Alto (United States) founded in 2007, and was acquired by GES in March 2017. NFC tools for event networking and lead generation are offered. Poken has raised $1.92 million across 2 funding rounds from investors including GES, Swisscom Ventures and Venture Kick. The company was acqui-hired. Its focus areas include Enterprise Applications, Events Tech, Attendee Engagement and Networking. Its competitors include Mixtroz, nTAG Interactive and Three Stage; 3 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.

Company details

Poken is a cloud-based service designed for the event industry, enabling Touch Marketing or the integration of online and offline marketing campaigns. The company provides tradeshow managers, exhibitors and event organizers with tools that enable the digital distribution of promotional literature, while measuring the return on investment of their lead generation activities. Participants can collect digital information in the real world from smart tags and QR codes, and digitally exchange their contact details with a touch with the help of Pokens mobile apps and NFC products. Won Best Innovation in Mobile Advertising (Mobile World Congress, Feb. 2012) and Red Herring 100 Europe. Customers include IBM, Deloitte, Coca-Cola, HP among others.

  • Headquarters Palo Alto, United States
  • Stage Acquired
  • Sectors
    Technology
  • Website poken.com
  • Social LinkedIn X
  • Acquired by GES (Mar 2017)
Operational Areas
Key Metrics
  • Total Equity Funding
    $1.92M (USD)

    in 2 rounds

  • Latest Funding Round
    $1.8M (USD), Series A

    May 2010

  • Investors
    GES

    & 2 more

  • Acquired by
    GES

    (Mar 2017)

Funding Insights of Poken

Poken has successfully raised a total of $1.92M across 2 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series A round of $1.8 million completed in May 2010. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.

  • Total Funding $1.92M
  • Total Rounds 2
  • Last Round Series A β€” $1.8M
  • First Round $115,654

    (Jun 2007)

  • Investors Count 2

All 2 funding rounds of Poken with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.

DateAmountTransaction NameValuationLead InvestorsInvestors
May 2010$1.8MSeries A–Swisscom Ventures
–
Jun 2007$115,654Seed–Venture Kick
–
Valuation history

3 investors in total: 3 institutional.

Investors in Poken

Poken has secured backing from 3 investors, including venture fund investors. Prominent investors backing the company include GES, Swisscom Ventures and Venture Kick.

All
Venture Fund
InvestorDescriptionFounded YearDomainLocation
Investments are made by Swisscom Ventures, backed by Swisscom AG.
ventures.swisscom.comIttigen, Switzerland
University backed startup accelerator
venturekick.chSchlieren, Switzerland
A global company specializing in trade show and exhibition management.
1993ges.comLas Vegas, United States
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Investor details for Poken

The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.

  • Complete investor list
  • Round participation
  • Investor portfolios
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Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.

Timeline of Poken

4 dated milestones of Poken across 10 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.

  1. Founded Poken is founded.
  2. Funding First funding round of $116K.
  3. Funding Latest funding round, Series A, of $1.8M.
  4. Exit Acquired by GES.

Competitors of Poken

Poken has 3 listed competitors in our database, 3 of them funded. They include Mixtroz, nTAG Interactive and Three Stage.

Company NameDomainFoundedHQ LocationTotal fundingEmployeesDescription
mixtroz.com2014Birmingham, United States$2M
Offers software for managing event data and operations.
ntag.com2002Austin, United States$23.3M
Interactive name badges are provided for event networking.
threestage.com2001Columbia, United States$22.5M
Online media and marketing solutions
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Detailed competitors of Poken

The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.

  • Full competitor set
  • Operating metrics
  • Benchmarks
  • Competitive positioning

Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.

Web traffic of Poken

Websites that share an audience with Poken (poken.com).

Similar websites

Websites whose visitors overlap most with Poken. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.

WebsiteDomainAudience affinityMonthly visitsGlobal rankProfile
twitter.com
100%
View details
revimedia.com
revimedia.com
83%
–
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
56%
–
exhibitoronline.com
53%
30.1K#1,106,264View details
eventmarketer.com
38%
#755,657View details

Top companies in Events Tech

3 companies that operate in the same segment as Poken (Events Tech) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.

CompanyDescriptionFoundedLocationTotal fundingRevenueEmployees
Event management software is delivered via a cloud-based platform.
1999Fairfax, Virginia, United StatesUSD 178.04 MUSD 49.73 M2,357
Cloud-based software is provided for managing outdoor events and activities.
1999Dallas, Texas, United StatesUSD 313.84 M2,458
Managed co-working spaces with conference rooms and amenities are offered.
2009New York, New York, United StatesUSD 495.5 M188
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Related news about Poken

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Complete news archive for Poken

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Frequently Asked Questions about Poken

Poken was founded in 2007.

Poken is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States. It is registered at Palo Alto, California, United States.

Poken is a funded company, having raised a total of $1.92M across 2 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Seed of $115.65K, raised on Jun 2007.

Poken is a cloud-based service designed for the event industry, enabling Touch Marketing or the integration of online and offline marketing campaigns. The company provides tradeshow managers, exhibitors and event organizers with tools that enable the digital distribution of promotional literature, while measuring the return on investment of their lead generation activities. Participants can collect digital information in the real world from smart tags and QR codes, and digitally exchange their contact details with a touch with the help of Pokens mobile apps and NFC products. Won Best Innovation in Mobile Advertising (Mobile World Congress, Feb. 2012) and Red Herring 100 Europe. Customers include IBM, Deloitte, Coca-Cola, HP among others.

Poken's top competitors include nTAG Interactive, Three Stage and Mixtroz.

Poken has 3 investors. Key investors include GES, Swisscom Ventures, and Venture Kick.

Yes. Poken was acquired by GES in March 2017.

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