Tocca is raising via SAFE at a $10 million valuation cap with a 10% discount. A $10 million valuation cap is quite high for a company that’s earned only $34,000 in revenue so far. Tocca’s valuation is slightly higher than other early stage companies. But the addition of a discount rate boosts its score. Overall, the startup scores just below average on the price metric.

The global virtual events market is large and growing fast. In 2020, the virtual events market was valued at $94 billion, which is among one of the larger markets in the KingsCrowd database. It’s currently growing at an annual rate of 23.7%, which is also one of the fastest-growing markets. The high demand for virtual events and continued push toward remote work will greatly increase the market’s growth and potential. A rapidly growing market means that Tocca doesn’t need to capture the entire market to be successful. All in all, Tocca receives a high market score.

Tocca CEO and co-founder Tommaso Trionfi has a master’s degree in science and technology as well as international economics from Université Grenoble Alpes in France. He has prior experience in virtual spaces from founding Wimba, a virtual classroom platform that was acquired by Blackboard. Trionfi also has experience as a financier from being CEO at a private equity firm called Monsoon Commerce. His experience in building a business with a focus on a virtual environment at Wimba translates well to his role at Tocca. Additionally, Trionfi’s experience as a financier will undoubtedly help Tocca in networking and fundraising.

Tocca’s CTO and second co-founder, Stéphane Paquet, started his career working with space and satellite technologies at the French space agency CNES and then Space Systems Loral. He later took on leadership positions at Exigen EbIT, which provides enterprise software and software-as-a-service distribution, and Airbus Multicoms, a telecom clearinghouse. He also co-founded an offshore contact center called RightPlaceCall, where he still works today as a senior technical advisor. 

In addition to the co-founders, Head of Product Didier Perrot has experience in leading companies to exits. He was previously the founder, CEO, and CPO of inWebo Technologies, a cybersecurity company that was acquired by Essling Capital. Perrot’s product experience is a great boon as Tocca hopes to differentiate its product from others in the space. 

Despite the founders and surrounding team members having exits and complementary skills, Tocca’s lack of marketing and sales professionals hurts the company greatly. Marketing and sales staff would accelerate the company’s traction as it hopes to compete in an increasingly popular and competitive market. This combination of accomplished founders, but lack of other employees results in a slightly above average team score.

COVID-19 has accelerated the demand for virtual events. A number of competitors like Zoom, Hopin, Welcome, and Bizzabo all compete for a share of the increasingly large virtual events market. While Tocca touts its software’s customizable features to create tailor-made, deeply branded events, it seems Hopin’s software includes the same features. As such, it seems there may be little to differentiate Tocca’s software compared to its most well-known peer. Given the popularity of the virtual events industry, the strongest defense for any operator will be branding. But because Tocca is relatively new and recently pivoted towards virtual events, its branding is weaker than its larger competitors. Zoom’s brand name recognition, established customer base, and deep pockets make it a major threat to Tocca. 

Tocca’s pricing — a flat annual fee — may be more attractive to those looking for a more affordable solution. But given how crowded the market is, it’s likely a competitor that has a similar or even more attractive pricing model than Tocca. The combination of little differentiation and defensibility give Tocca a below average differentiation score.

Tocca has earned $34,000 in revenue since its founding in 2018, which is unimpressive. The company’s pivot to virtual events may explain this performance. 

But Tocca has done remarkably well in raising capital, as the company has raised more than $2 million in funding to date. This bodes well for the company, as it shows its founders are capable of raising more money down the road if needed. As Tocca is still pre-profit, the company is burning capital at a reasonable rate. Tocca is also a graduate of Salesforce Build and the Alchemist Accelerators — both established names — which is a strong sign of traction. Lastly, the company has 18 customers in total, with 10 coming since Tocca ended its beta testing phase in April. Overall, Tocca’s strong funding to date, reasonable burn rate, and paying customers offset its unimpressive revenue traction, giving it a strong performance score.

Tocca has a finished product with a small but established and dedicated team. Operating in a large, fast-growing market with increasing potential is a boon for Tocca. As such, the company’s primary risks are in its valuation and its competition. At a $10 million valuation cap, Tocca is slightly overvalued given the traction the company has achieved to date. With only 18 customers and $34,000 in revenue since the company has been live, there is not much to justify such a high valuation. 

Corporate virtual events software is not a novel or innovative idea, and Tocca’s pivot into the space comes as startups like Hopin, Welcome, and Bizzabo are all increasingly vying for a piece of the same pie. These companies and many others have a significant lead on Tocca and present a risk, as it’s uncertain if the quality and price of Tocca’s product will give it an advantage over its competitors. Overall, however, Tocca’s fully developed product and fast-growing market make the company an overall low-risk investment.

Tocca faces a lot of competition in the virtual events market. Zoom is a popular video conferencing software that has also entered the virtual events software space. Zoom’s brand name recognition, established customer base, and deep pockets can overwhelm its competitors. Hopin has also shown to be a behemoth competitor and the go-to virtual event solution, with a large network and following. And if any Zoom or Hopin user wants to try a different competitor, there are numerous switching costs, which makes it less likely that customers will switch to Tocca’s product. Lastly, Tocca’s product doesn’t appear to have a sustainable advantage or differentiator, so it may not attract enough users.

Companies and event hosts looking for an affordable virtual events solution with many of the same features as its competitors may opt for Tocca. Additionally, Tocca’s managing team is quite experienced and has shown it’s capable of raising capital, which is essential for the company’s survival. Funding more often than not will decide a company’s fate. Lastly, this is a rapidly growing market. As long as the company can raise more capital and survive, it may be able to take a small portion of the market and compete successfully.

Tocca offers a white-label virtual event platform that provides users with an easy and customizable experience. Tocca has competent, experienced founders who have shown a strong ability to raise and manage capital (as they’re burning money at a reasonable rate) and have shown success with previous exits. The company has some good signs of traction in graduating from the Salesforce Build and Alchemist accelerators. Tocca also has 18 customers, with 10 of them coming since the company finished beta testing its product. Lastly, the virtual events market is a large and fast-growing market and the company’s pricing structure may attract a lot of customers. 

Unfortunately, Tocca’s software isn’t very differentiated from its competitors’ software. The company faces fierce competition in the rapidly growing virtual events market. Tocca lacks sales and marketing team members to help accelerate its growth. And the company has had an unimpressive financial performance so far. 

Overall, although Tocca comes with risks, it has the potential to reward investors if it manages to acquire even a portion of its large target market. Therefore, Tocca is rated as a Neutral Deal at this time.

For questions regarding the KingsCrowd staff pick or ratings for this company, please reach out at support@kingscrowd.com. 

Analysis written by Francis Vu.