As event costs continue to rise and “Zoom fatigue” drives renewed interest in physical gatherings, London-based startup Zance is challenging event organisers to abandon vanity metrics like attendance numbers and instead measure what truly matters: outcomes.
Backed by the Mayor of London’s Amplify Ventures and Foundervine, Zance has launched an AI-powered platform designed to help organisers, sponsors, and attendees track the real return on in-person events. The platform replaces gut feel, headcounts, and post-event guesswork with actionable data that shows how events drive connections, leads, and business value.
“For decades, success has been judged by how full a room looks,” said Ifeanyichukwu Ukwu, CEO of Zance. “But a crowded room doesn’t guarantee a single meaningful connection. Organisers are relying on fragmented tools, ticketing for one thing, spreadsheets for another, while having zero visibility into what actually happens between two people shaking hands. We’re closing that value gap.”
Zance positions itself as a digital concierge for attendees and a real-time analytics engine for organisers. Using an AI-powered personal assistant, the platform analyses participants’ professional goals, to curate relevant connections, replacing random networking with intentional introductions; captures intent, allowing conversations to be logged instantly as actionable follow-ups or leads, and delivers real-time analytics, including a proprietary “ZES Score” (Zance Event Success Score) that measures outcomes for sponsors, organisers, and attendees to ensure all stakeholder interests are accounted for.
Early pilot programmes show promising results. Events using Zance achieved up to 70% attendance rates, while doubling post-event business conversions, significantly reducing no-shows and unproductive interactions.
While large-scale conferences can afford custom-built apps, Zance is focused on the underserved middle market, including corporate gatherings, professional communities, and high-value networking events that need accountability but lack enterprise budgets.
Founded by a team that has organised over 150 events, Zance emerged from firsthand frustration. “We kept seeing great events fail to justify their value to sponsors,” said Ukwu. “That’s the problem we set out to solve.”
The company was founded by Ifeanyichukwu Ukwu (CEO), Isaac Oduh (CTO), and Enya Adesulure (Partnerships).
With backing from Amplify Ventures, Zance is scaling the platform for broader rollout across the UK, with plans to expand into European markets. The company is targeting a pre-seed funding round by the end of Q1 2026 to deepen its AI capabilities and accelerate growth.
“The next era of events belongs to the accountable,” Ukwu added. “If you can’t measure the outcome, you shouldn’t be holding the event.”