Rookoo raises €900k to help event and hospitality teams escape admin overload
Ghent-based Rookoo has raised €900k to expand its platform of "digital colleagues" for events and hospitality teams. The focus: reduce admin, speed up responses, and bring smarter planning and pricing to day-to-day operations.
The funding will accelerate new modules for price optimisation and capacity management, plus dashboards for conversion, workload and offering. The company is already active in Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, with an official Dutch market launch coming at EventSummit.
What Rookoo actually does
Rookoo automates intake, categorisation and follow-ups across inquiries and bookings. It connects conversations with planning and data so teams answer faster, prepare quotes efficiently and reduce repetitive work.
As CEO Jeroen Borloo puts it: "Event and hospitality teams spend far too much time on admin. We want them to be able to focus again on experience, creativity and hospitality." He adds, "By linking conversations with planning and data, we can relieve teams and help them work smarter."
Why this matters for operators
- Shorter response times, fewer dropped inquiries and cleaner handoffs from sales to ops.
- Pricing guardrails and capacity visibility to protect margins during peak demand.
- Actionable metrics: see conversion by channel, workload by team, and offering performance.
- Less manual sorting and chasing, more attention on guests and on-site delivery.
Where the new capital goes
- Price optimisation modules to help set smarter quotes and packages.
- Capacity management to plan staff, rooms and venues with fewer bottlenecks.
- Data-driven insights covering conversion, workload and offering so leaders can plan and decide with clarity.
Who's backing Rookoo
The round includes a group of industry operators and tech founders, supported by KBC Innovation Banking and PMV, and facilitated with Ghent-based funding agency The Harbour.
- Louis Jonckheere (Wintercircus)
- Jorn Vanysacker (100In, ex-Henchman)
- Gilles Mattelin (100In, ex-Henchman & Tout Bien)
- Jean-Michel Teerlinck (MTM Group, Artion)
- Stefaan and Bernard Rossel (Bavet, Burney's, Frans & Bertha)
- Matthias Stevens (Dynamate)
- Pieter Vanermen
- Gilles Teerlinck
- Tanguy Serraes
- Anthony De Clerck
- Hendrik Isebaert
- Louis Mahy
- Piet Van Waes
- Olivier Saverys
PMV's role highlights continued support for scaling companies in Flanders' tech ecosystem. Learn more about PMV's mandate and programs here.
Traction so far
Rookoo's digital colleagues are already used by Wintercircus Ghent, Tour & Taxis, Brussels Special Venues, SPIN and The Arena Group. The company was founded in 2024 by Jeroen Borloo, Anthony Meirlaen, Thibaut Vincent and Jared Dierickx, who previously worked at Clarabridge and Qualtrics.
"From the heart of the Flemish ecosystem, we want to build a sustainable, scalable solution that pushes the global event sector forward," says Borloo. The team is preparing an official Dutch market launch at EventSummit.
Bigger picture: hospitality tech is heating up
Across Europe in 2025, hospitality- and events-adjacent startups have announced fresh funding. Austria's chatlyn raised €8M (Series A) for AI guest communication, the Netherlands' Toppi raised nearly €1M for AI tools across F&B and hotels, the UK's Nory closed €31M (Series B) for restaurant operations, and Spain's Amenitiz raised €38.9M for independent hotels.
That's roughly €78.9M flowing into operations-focused tech this year. For operators, the signal is clear: teams that systemise admin, pricing and scheduling will move faster and waste less.
Quick playbook: how to put this to work
- Map your inbox-to-quote workflow. Identify the handoffs that slow you down.
- Pilot a digital colleague for triage and follow-ups on one venue or region.
- Set pricing rules and guardrails before peak seasons and large event blocks.
- Track conversion by channel and response time; fix the slowest link first.
- Centralise calendars and capacity so sales, ops and suppliers see the same truth.
- Train staff on exceptions and edge cases; keep prompts and playbooks short and clear.
If you're building AI skills across your team, explore practical training by role at Complete AI Training.
Your membership also unlocks:
