Experience Commerce Platform Easol Officially Expands to North America with Opening of New York Office

29 February 2024 - Press release

All In One Platform For Managing Experiences Behind Afro Nation, Wanderlust, Rapha & More

Experience commerce platform Easol has launched its first US office. The space, in Williamsburg, New York, will serve as a home for the platform’s growing North American operation, as well as a hub for its rapidly growing global experience creator community. Easol is already powering creators across the US, from California-based FWB Fest to  Nevada’s Schellraiser Festival and Sol Seeker in the US Virgin Islands.

Co-Founders and festival creators Ben and Lisa Simpson, created Easol after becoming  frustrated with the web of complicated third-party platforms they had to navigate while running their successful snowsports and music festival Rise. Since launching in 2017, the b2b SaaS platform has raised $30m in funding and grown to serve experience creators in more than 135 countries worldwide. With a world-class team of 80 industry and product experts, Easol’s experience commerce now powers businesses as diverse as global festival brand Afro Nation, wellness powerhouse Wanderlust, cycling experts Rapha and house music institution Defected.

Easol’s unique and constantly evolving platform feature set  addresses long-standing industry-wide pain points  faced by festivals, wellness and sports events and the tours and activities sector - specifically lack of control over core aspects of their business like data ownership, unfair service fees and the inability to sell complex experiences with packages, multiple add-ons and up-sells. 

With Easol, creators have total control over their customer data by hosting the end to end customer journey on their own domain, whilst they can also set their own booking or service fees as low as 0%, keeping any revenue generated there. Easol’s custom booking journeys meanwhile, allow creators to sell a range of experiences from weekend festival passes to luxury dining packages and surf trips with ease. 

Easol Co-founder and CEO Ben Simpson, on the launch of Easol’s new US office said; “We’re excited to be opening our Easol office in Brooklyn. The space will allow us to further grow our team of experts in New York and around the country, as well as serving as the first hub for our experience creator community here in the US.”

Fest Forums Founder Laurie Kirby, who has collaborated with Easol on the last two editions of her industry-leading conference, added, “Easol’s mission aligns closely with FestForums. Their unique product brings crucial value to an industry that’s looking to take back control and grow independently.”

Envision Festival Co-Founder Josh Wendel on Easol’s new office in the US.“We're excited to see Easol bring their offerings to the US. They have been an integral part of our growth, since we started using them in 2019. They have helped Envision grow way beyond what any other booking platform was able to."