ExpoPromoter, an online service for ticket and Expo booth distribution at exhibitions in China, has reported an injection of US$1m in investment from its shareholders, with the aim of increasing market share and raising profits by 200% in 2019.
ExpoPromoter, founded by Hennadiy Netyaha in 2009 and initially developed in the Russian and Ukrainian markets, has also won marketed share among major international exhibition organisers including Fiera Milano, Düsseldorf Messe and Reed Expo.
In 2015 the project was completely reinvented and transitioned to the Chinese market and, in 2017, ExpoPromoter participated in one of the world's largest business accelerators, Chinaccelerator, going on to become a statistical information source for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The company is also now working with the government of the new Free Economic Zone of Hainan island on developing the exhibition industry in the region.
Currently ExpoPromoter serves 800 exhibitions in total reports that 132,925 foreign visitors attended Chinese exhibitions in 2018.
Later this year ExpoPromoter is set to launch an online service for exhibition stands with online payment for local Chinese buyers.
The company foresees a market capacity of over $10bn annually in China and new CEO Simon Zagainov (pictured), will lead ExpoPromoter’s further development in the country, having overseen 500 contracts over four years of work in the company’s Chinese office. He is the first Russian to enter the 30U30 Forbes China rating.
Hennadiy Netyaha says: “The significant slowdown of the exhibition market in Russia and Ukraine in 2015 made us think about the further development of the project. So, this need created new opportunities for us. We have successfully entered the second largest (so far) exhibition market in the world and achieved good results. Over the years, the project has gone through stages from start-up to being an established company in the market. Under Simon’s leadership the company will continue its successful active development.”
Zagainov added: “I am grateful to Hennadiy and the shareholders for the opportunity to become the new CEO of ExpoPromoter. The company has a lot of ambitions, so I can't wait to start implementing them. It will not be boring! One of the main goals for the next couple of years is to become the most ‘local’ in China and ensure that 5% of transactions for purchasing stands at China's exhibitions pass through ExpoPromoter.”
ExpoPromoter has offices in London, Shanghai, Kiev, Sanya and has more than 50 employees. ExpoPromoter is part of ExpoPromo Group Ltd, a permanent member of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI).
