Makers of event planner app aim to nurture RSVP culture

The platform combines events and group features in a single app enabling the user-led creation of private events (like weddings and birthdays) or public events (such as concerts and exhibitions) and image sharing. Ticketed events can be posted on the app, for which users can transact using international currency. The app offers conference calling and conference video calling too. Sudhakar Raja, a former IT consultant in the US with 15 years experience in companies like Oracle, KPMG and Covansys, is the CEO of Howdy Ventures. 

SK Choudhury is the MD. Raja tells us, “The product was incepted around two and a half years ago after I saw the hardships my uncle faced in hosting a birthday party for his grandson. Of the 200-odd people he invited on WhatsApp, only 80 turned up. I realised how much we tend to waste, on planning, materials, and on logistics as well. Add to it the tedium of manual headcounts. So, I felt the need for an Indian solution, an equivalent of Evite (a free event planner app). 

HowdyDo is our way of creating a culture of RSVP in the country.” S Xavier Britto, Chairman, Kerry Indev Logistics, and promoter of Premier Futsal is investing Rs 10 cr in Howdy Ventures for a 50 per cent stake. The app, a cost-effective solution to deliver invitations for social events, also supports video invitation, an innovation incorporated into the app. Raja says that paperless check-in for paid events is also an area the app can be used in. 

“For sporting events at venues with multiple entry points, a ticket-checker with a smartphone is all you need to usher in thousands, without the hassles of physical verification of tickets.” As many as 12,500 users have registered on the app, including a few alumni groups of Loyola College and Don Bosco School.