Cadence

Event Production Servicescadence-inc.com

Cadence is a Wheeling, Illinois-based event production and brand experience company (founded 1998, 11–50 employees) that designs, fabricates, and executes corporate meetings, tradeshow exhibits, live events, custom builds, and nationwide brand activations for enterprise clients.

Company typePublic
Founded1987
HeadquartersWheeling, United States
Headcount1–10
GTM typeB2B
OfferingServices

What Cadence does

Cadence is a Wheeling, Illinois-based event production and brand experience company founded in 1998, employing between 11 and 50 people. The firm operates as a one-stop integrated production house, combining creative strategy, custom fabrication, AV staging, and on-site event execution for enterprise brands. Its services span tradeshow exhibits and design-build-install, meetings and events logistics, AV equipment rentals and permanent systems integration, custom fabrication of props and engineered structures, live event production, branded environments (including general contracting), consumer activations, and nationwide tour management.

The company's underlying capability is a vertically integrated production stack: in-house design (CAD and 3D rendering), in-shop fabrication (oversized props, kinetic sculptures, molded composites, custom-engineered portable metal structures), AV staging for events of 500–5,000 attendees, and field execution teams handling logistics, on-site staffing, and asset staging across multiple U.S. warehouse locations. This integration allows Cadence to consolidate what would typically be split across a creative agency, a fabrication shop, an AV rental house, and a logistics coordinator under a single engagement.

Cadence's commercial model is project-based enterprise services revenue, with multi-stop activations, branded environments, and recurring tradeshow booth programs for Fortune 500-class clients. Visible marquee work includes Mercedes-Benz (national parts and service managers meeting; ABA launch for Mercedes Coach), HP (Label Expo booth), Puma (Dua Lipa Lollapalooza pop-up), Beam Suntory (Bourbon Boxcar Legends), Monaco (Festival Lounge), and NCAA, alongside additional clients such as Abbott and Sidecar. Pricing is engagement-based and not publicly disclosed. Distribution is direct B2B sales to brand marketing and experiential teams, supported by an active corporate website and a CRM-integrated lead capture capability for tradeshow programs.

Cadence firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Cadence
Legal name: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Website: https://cadence-inc.com
Company type: Public
Founded year: 1987
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 1–10 employees
Short description: Cadence is a Wheeling, Illinois-based event production and brand experience company (founded 1998, 11–50 employees) that designs, fabricates, and executes corporate meetings, tradeshow exhibits, live events, custom builds, and nationwide brand activations for enterprise clients.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Cadence industry classification

Industry

Product category: Event Production Services
NAICS: Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320), Other Performing Arts Companies (71119)
SIC: Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)
akta.pro primary industry: Full-Service Event Planning & Production (HSACAAAA)
akta.pro secondary industries: Staging & Rigging Services (MPAGAKAA), Staging, Scenic & Set Fabrication (Stages, Backdrops, Scenic Builds) (THAHAEAC), Virtual, Hybrid & Livestream Event Coordination (HSACAAAO)

Keywords

Event production services
Tradeshow exhibit design
Corporate meeting planning
Custom fabrication services
Experiential brand activation

Where Cadence is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Wheeling
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

Cadence business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

EDA Software Licenses and Subscriptions: Enterprise EDA software licenses and subscriptions for semiconductor design, verification, and system design tools. Revenue driven by multi-year contracts with semiconductor companies.
Semiconductor IP: Design IP including DDR, SerDes, PCIe, memory controllers, and audio/voice DSP cores. 40% YoY growth in Q1 2025 attributed to AI and chiplet projects.
Hardware Verification Platforms: GPU-accelerated hardware verification platforms including the Millennium M2000 Supercomputer for chip design simulation.
Multiphysics Simulation Software: System Design & Analysis portfolio including structural analysis, acoustics, and multibody dynamics from Hexagon D&E acquisition.

Pricing tiers

Model	Billing	Price
Subscription	Annual	Enterprise EDA bundles for advanced process nodes
Hybrid	Multi-year contract	IP licensing and royalties

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Cadence product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Cadence is a full-service event production company that designs, fabricates, and executes corporate meetings, tradeshow exhibits, branded environments, consumer activations, and live events. The firm delivers end-to-end capabilities including exhibit design and fabrication, AV staging and systems integration, custom fabrication of props and structures, live event production, branded environment build-out, and nationwide tour management under a single in-house team.

Product overview

No detailed product portfolio information available in the provided source material.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

ChipStack AI Super Agent: World's first agentic AI workflow for automating chip design and verification processes, providing up to 10X productivity improvements for coding, testbench creation, test plans, regression testing, and debugging.
Tensilica Hi-Fi iQ DSP
Millennium M2000 AI Supercomputer
Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts Ecosystem

Products and services

Tradeshow Exhibits
Meetings and Events
Audio-Visual Staging and Systems Integration
Custom Fabrication
Live Event Production
Branded Environments
Consumer Activations
Tour Management

Quantifiable outcome

Up to 10X productivity improvements in chip design and verification tasks
+7 more outcomes

Companies that use Cadence

Customer profile

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Cadence technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Cadence partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and strategic.

Intel FoundrycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 June 2026Expanded multi-year collaboration to accelerate development of Intel's 14A process technology, optimizing design tools, methodologies, and PDKs to improve performance, power, and efficiency for HPC and mobile designs using AI-driven solutions.
TSMCcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 April 2026Expanded collaboration to deliver IP, signoff-ready design infrastructure, and certified flows for TSMC's advanced process technologies (N3, N2, A16, A14), providing rich IP portfolio including DDR5, PCIe 6.0, LPDDR6, and HBM4E.
NVIDIAflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 April 2026Expanded partnership to integrate AI, physics-based simulation, and digital twin technologies across engineering workflows, promising 100X speed improvements in simulation, 10X productivity gains in chip design, and 17% efficiency improvements in AI factory operations.
Google CloudcoreTechnology or Integration · 15 April 2026Collaboration to enhance AI-driven chip design automation by integrating Cadence's ChipStack AI Super Agent with Google's Gemini models on Google Cloud for scalable chip design solutions.
Hexagon AB (Design & Engineering)flagshipOthers · 24 February 2026Completed acquisition of Hexagon AB's Design and Engineering business for approximately €2.7 billion (70% cash, 30% stock), expanding Cadence's System Design & Analysis portfolio with structural analysis, acoustics, and multibody dynamics capabilities. Expected to add $160 million incremental revenue in 2026.
LightmatterstrategicTechnology or Integration · 27 January 2026Technical collaboration to accelerate co-packaged optics (CPO) development for AI infrastructure by integrating Cadence's high-speed SerDes IP with Lightmatter's Passage optical engine for 3D-stacked photonic interconnects.
ArmcoreTechnology or Integration · 6 January 2026Collaboration through Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem and leveraging Arm Zena Compute Subsystem for next-generation edge AI processing in automotive, robotics, and drone applications.
ArteriscoreTechnology or Integration · 6 January 2026IP partner in Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem providing pre-validated chiplet solutions.
eMemorycoreTechnology or Integration · 6 January 2026IP partner in Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem.
M31 TechnologycoreTechnology or Integration · 6 January 2026IP partner in Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem.
Silicon CreationscoreTechnology or Integration · 6 January 2026IP partner in Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem.
Trilinear TechnologiescoreTechnology or Integration · 6 January 2026IP partner in Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem.
proteanTecscoreTechnology or Integration · 6 January 2026IP partner in Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem.
ArmcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 November 2025Collaboration implementing 'shift-left' approach to move testing and validation earlier in design process, reducing costs, mitigating risks, and speeding time-to-market through pre-verified subsystems.
Secure-ICstrategicOthers · 30 October 2025Completed acquisition of Secure-IC, a provider of embedded security IP, security solutions and security evaluation tools and services, to address growing demand for robust embedded security across automotive, data center, aerospace, defense, mobile, IoT and consumer electronics.
Samsung FoundrycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2024Broad collaboration to accelerate 3D IC and AI semiconductor development, optimizing EDA tools including Cadence.AI verification and IP suite for Samsung's GAA SF2 and SF4 node technology, enabling low-power, high-performance chips for AI workloads.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Cadence competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

Freeman: Largest full-service brand experience company in North America, offering event planning, exhibit fabrication, AV, and event logistics. Directly comparable to Cadence across all eight service lines but at significantly larger scale.
GES (Global Experience Specialists): Trade show and event services provider offering exhibit design and fabrication, event management, and on-site services. Closely comparable in tradeshow exhibit and live event production capabilities.
Sparks: Global experience marketing agency specializing in trade show exhibits, brand activations, and event production for enterprise clients. Direct competitor for corporate experiential engagements.
George P. Johnson Experience Marketing: Large experience marketing agency with strengths in trade show exhibits, brand activations, and corporate events. Comparable enterprise client focus and full-service model.
Jack Morton Worldwide: Global brand experience agency producing events, activations, and immersive brand environments for major brands. Comparable across branded environments, consumer activations, and live event production.
MKG: Experience marketing and event production agency with full-service offerings spanning events, activations, and content. Comparable mid-sized agency profile targeting enterprise brands.
Mosaic: Experiential marketing agency focused on brand activations, events, and field marketing. Comparable in consumer activations and tour management services.
Hargrove: Event production and exhibit services company specializing in large-scale trade shows, corporate events, and custom fabrication. Direct comparable across fabrication and live event production.
C3 Presents: Austin-based live event and festival production company producing large-scale music festivals, brand experiences, and corporate events. Comparable in live event production scope and brand activation expertise.

Broad incumbents

Live Nation: Largest live entertainment company globally, producing concerts, festivals, and live events at massive scale. Broader entertainment portfolio but overlapping capabilities in live event production and tour management.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Cadence financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Cadence leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Cadence subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries2 records

Cadence funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Cadence M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cadence

What does Cadence do?

Is Cadence a public or private company?

Cadence is a public company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.

When was Cadence founded?

Cadence was founded in 1987. It employs 1 to 10 people.

Where is Cadence based?

Cadence is headquartered in Wheeling, United States, in the North America region.

How does Cadence make money?

Four revenue lines are on record. EDA Software Licenses and Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are semiconductor IP, hardware Verification Platforms and multiphysics Simulation Software.

Who are Cadence's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are Freeman, GES (Global Experience Specialists), Sparks, George P. Johnson Experience Marketing, Jack Morton Worldwide, MKG, Mosaic, Hargrove and C3 Presents. Live Nation is listed as a broad incumbent.

Does Cadence have an API?

No public API is recorded for Cadence.

What industry is Cadence in?

Cadence's product category is Event Production Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HSACAAAA, Full-Service Event Planning & Production, with a secondary code of MPAGAKAA, Staging & Rigging Services. Its NAICS code is 711320 and its SIC code is 7812.