Evaluating only Splash’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Acquisition gone wrong as the #1 likely cause. Documented cause: Competition.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
Ben Hindman co-founds Splash in New York as a branded event marketing and management platform.
FUNDING
Raises $30M Series C from Sapphire Ventures; total funding reaches $53M with 200+ employees.
LAYOFF
Multiple layoff rounds eliminate 40% of staff as enterprise event budgets remain depressed post-COVID.
ACQUISITION ATTEMPT
CEO Ben Hindman announces merger with Bizzabo, ending Splash as independent company after 11 years.
Full Analysis
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Documented cause
Splash raised $53M including a $30M Series C in 2019 led by Sapphire Ventures to build an enterprise event marketing platform. The company served Fortune 500 clients managing branded events. COVID gutted its enterprise event budgets and forced a pivot to hybrid/virtual tools. But Cvent and Hopin outspent Splash on product and sales. By 2022, Splash had conducted multiple rounds of layoffs totaling 40% of staff. In January 2023, CEO Ben Hindman announced a merger with event tech rival Bizzabo, effectively ending Splash as an independent entity.
Lesson
“In winner-takes-most B2B markets, underfunded #3 players get absorbed or die; raise or exit early.”
Failure anatomy
Collapse type
Acqui-hire
📉 MEDIUM
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