HyperKu acquires ECAL and fuels global growth

At a time that is proving difficult for most Australian businesses, ECAL’s global calendar communications and marketing platform is thriving, having been acquired by Singapore start-up HyperKu, and securing $1M in additional capital to fuel growth.

ECAL’s calendar communications and marketing platform enables any event-based organisation to deliver rich, dynamic content, straight to their audience, via their personal digital calendar.

With the onset of COVID, their clients were quick to develop new and interesting ways to keep fans engaged using ECAL’s adaptive technology. The National Basketball Association (NBA) and English Premier League (EPL) both launched highly successful eSports tournaments, whilst Formula E organised a 9-week ‘Race at Home Challenge’ simulator series, featuring professional drivers up against the best Sim racers and celebrities.

Closer to home, the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) season restarts have faced huge challenges, with constant interruptions and continual rescheduling due to the unpredictable nature of the COVID outbreak.

Performing Arts organisations are also turning to ECAL for solutions, such as The Australian Ballet with the launch of their ‘Digital Season’.

The importance of the ECAL platform in engaging and activating fans is what made them attractive to cofounders, Patrick Barrett and Remon Gazal at HyperKu.

“The ECAL acquisition makes perfect sense for us at this time. Some of the biggest event brands in the world are turning to ECAL to manage customer communications through this period of great disruption”, said Remon Gazal, former APAC President at Brightstar.

HyperKu’s capital partners for the ECAL acquisition include a Singapore-based Family Office who invest in highgrowth technology platforms, some of which have already signed partnership agreements with ECAL.

“We have entered a new era of digital engagement and entertainment, with a blending of exciting new digital events, and traditional live events. Uncertainty and change are the main constants, and the power of ECAL’s smart, dynamic communications for events is proving to be critically valuable – in sports, entertainment, media and beyond,”, says Patrick Barrett, who is also the CEO of ECAL.

During this COVID period, ECAL has won new business in eSports, virtual conferencing, and streaming services. Payments are also a major focus, with the recent announcement of a partnership with payments orchestration company PayDock, and impending announcements with two other key strategic partners in the marketing and events space.

“The new ownership structure for ECAL will provide the capacity for continued growth into new industries and territories, as well as a support network of people, portfolio business and capital to help make it all happen”, says Barrett. “This is an exciting time for us. Already, we have announced the appointment of sports media executive Alex Peebles as Chief Revenue Officer, who will lead our Asia expansion and help us go deeper into media. We expect to share more exciting news in the coming weeks.”

For further information, please visit https://ecal.com

About ECAL:

ECAL is world-leading calendar communications, marketing and data platform, used by 300+ major brands globally across sports, entertainment, media, ticketing and payments. Headquartered in Melbourne, with a presence in London, Los Angeles, Manila, Delhi and Singapore, ECAL’s smart ‘sync to calendar’ technology enables rich, dynamic, event-based communications straight to calendar, for better business outcomes.

About HyperKu:

HyperKu is a Singapore based start-up, co-founded by Patrick Barrett and Remon Gazal, and the owner of ECAL. They are currently seeking similar post-revenue enterprise platform businesses that have proven use cases, clear product differentiation and robust technology, and are ready to scale.

For all media enquiries, interviews, and imagery please contact:

Olivia Novello
Public Relations Specialist
OM Digital
+61 431377114
olivia@omdigital.com.au