Poken France merges with Tech-Event

The merger will allow a complete product and service proposition to be presented to clients, with additional synergies such as combined sales and marketing efforts, as well as technical support. Poken’s event management dashboard, as well as its mobile apps and NFC-based devices, will be on offer to the French market through Tech-Event’s channels. Key Poken France staff will transfer to Tech-Event as part of the merger providing seamless sales and event support to existing clients.

Tech Event’s CEO, Wahib Bendib, says: “For the past 10 years we have catered to a majority of the largest events and exhibitions in France, establishing ourselves as the clear market leader for registration, access control, lead generation and other services. Poken’s full-featured event management platform, as well as its NFC-based devices, is a natural complement to our current service offering.

“Since Poken’s entry into the French market in 2010 we have witnessed the excitement and increasing demand for ‘green’ events. The product set that Poken has developed to allow events to deploy innovative and groundbreaking ‘touch based’ services is unique and world class. We are proud to have been chosen to be the exclusive provider of these services in France.”

Marc Vernazobres, General Manager of Poken France, who will be joining Tech-Event in a key business development role, adds: “I am excited to be part of this new phase in the evolution of Poken France. Poken’s ever-growing toolbox for event managers is exceptionally well suited to Tech-Event’s service portfolio and I am delighted to join its exceptional team. My clients Comexposium, American Express Meetings & Events, Thalès and many others have reacted very positively to the news, as it means working with one single supplier instead of two for their core event technology needs.”

Poken’s global operations are headquartered in Palo Alto, California and Lausanne, Switzerland. The merger initially concerns Poken’s French subsidiary, however the partnership will offer additional synergies for other markets in the longer term. Commenting on the news, Poken CEO Stephane Doutriaux says: “Our entire organisation will benefit from this partnership as we expect many of our international clients to be drawn to Tech-Event’s expertise in registration, access control, payments and other areas. There is a clear opportunity for both Poken and Tech-Event to expand Tech-Event’s reach into our international markets.”