Rising Media Ltd.

What Rising Media Ltd. does

Rising Media Ltd. is a privately held B2B conference and events company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, with a European headquarters in Starnberg, Germany and a UK registered office in London. The company produces nine distinct technology and business conference brands organized across three verticals: Data Science/AI/Cybersecurity (fwd:cloudsec, Machine Learning Week), Digital Marketing and Analytics (AllSocial Marketing Conference, CRM & Email Innovations World, Search Marketing Expo/SMX, SMX Advanced), and Digital Marketplaces (AutosBuzz, RecBuzz, RecommerceBuzz). Events are hosted across seven cities in the U.S. and Europe — Bellevue, London, Munich, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, and Noordwijk aan Zee — with Machine Learning Week rebranded as HYBRID AI 2026 to capture the broader enterprise AI commercialization market.

The company's underlying platform is its network of over 9,500 international speakers spanning authors, academics, entrepreneurs, founders, and executives, which serves as the primary content engine for the conference portfolio. Operationally, Rising Media runs an event-management infrastructure supported by website registration, bilingual English/German delivery, and digital marketing tooling including Google Ads, Facebook Custom Audiences, LinkedIn Conversion Tracking, and Ignite Video hosting. The company is led by Managing Directors Matthew Finlay and Sandra Finlay, with additional senior commercial leadership under EVP Worldwide Sales Paul Gillis.

Rising Media's revenue model combines conference registration fees paid by professional attendees with sponsorship revenue from exhibitors and event partners; pricing is quote-based and varies by event rather than published per ticket. Distribution is direct-to-attendee via the company website at risingmedia.com. The 2019 acquisition of Only Influencers, the email marketing industry's longest-standing professional community, anchors the CRM & Email Innovations World event and illustrates a tuck-in community-acquisition strategy designed to lock in attendee pipelines around specific event brands. The company operates as a profitable, bootstrapped private business with no disclosed institutional investors or external funding rounds.

Name

Rising Media Ltd.

Legal name

Rising Media Ltd.

Website

https://risingmedia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rising Media Ltd. is a privately held B2B events company that produces nine technology and business conference brands across Data Science/AI/Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing, and Digital Marketplaces verticals, serving professional attendees and sponsors in the U.S. and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Technology Conferences and Events

NAICS

Broadcasting and Content Providers (516), Public Relations Agencies (54182), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512), Media Buying Agencies (54183)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Virtual/Hybrid Conference Production & Platform Management (THAHACAM), Professional & Association Conferences (MPAGAGAB)

Keywords

• Technology conferences
• Business events
• Digital marketing conferences
• Machine learning events
• Cloud security conferences

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Barbara

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Conference Registration and Ticket Sales: Rising Media generates revenue primarily through event registration fees charged to attendees who participate in their conferences covering Data Science/AI/Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing and Analytics, and Digital Marketplaces topics.
2. Sponsorship Revenue: The company generates revenue from sponsors who exhibit at and support their conferences. The website displays logos of attendees from leading companies and sponsors participate in events.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Rising Media Ltd. produces and operates a portfolio of nine branded technology and business conferences across three verticals: Data Science/AI/Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing and Analytics, and Digital Marketplaces. The company sells conference registration and tickets to professional attendees and packages sponsorship and exhibit opportunities for companies targeting those attendees. Events are delivered both in-person and as hybrid experiences, drawing on a network of over 9,500 international speakers to provide practical, actionable insights to business professionals.

Product overview

Rising Media Ltd. operates a portfolio of technology and business conferences rather than a unified software product platform. The company organizes nine distinct conference brands across three core verticals: Data Science/AI/Cybersecurity (fwd:cloudsec, Machine Learning Week), Digital Marketing and Analytics (AllSocial Marketing Conference, CRM & Email Innovations World, Search Marketing Expo Conference, SMX Advanced), and Digital Marketplaces (AutosBuzz, RecBuzz, RecommerceBuzz). These events are promoted and managed through the Rising Media event platform and network, which includes a network of over 9,500 international speakers. The conferences serve as the company's primary product offerings, with each event brand operating independently with its own website, branding, and schedule while sharing operational infrastructure under the Rising Media umbrella.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• fwd:cloudsec: Non-profit conference on cloud security covering major cloud platforms, attack and defense research, and security strategies.
• Machine Learning Week
• AllSocial Marketing Conference
• CRM & Email Innovations World
• Search Marketing Expo (SMX)
• SMX Advanced
• AutosBuzz
• RecBuzz
• RecommerceBuzz

Products and services

• fwd:cloudsec A non-profit conference on cloud security covering all major cloud platforms, both attack and defense research, limitations of security features, pros and cons of different security strategies, and topics relevant to cloud practitioners that don't fit vendor conference agendas.
• Machine Learning Week (MLW) / HYBRID AI 2026 The world's largest conference series on commercial deployment of machine learning, bringing together the international data science community to discuss Predictive Analytics for Business, Predictive Analytics for Industry 4.0, and Deep Learning.
• AllSocial Marketing Conference

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• O'Reilly Media: O'Reilly runs technology and AI/ML conferences (Strata Data Conference, O'Reilly AI Conference) and operates a large author/speaker network, directly comparable to Rising Media's Machine Learning Week and data science community positioning.
• DMEXCO: DMEXCO is a major European digital marketing and tech expo held annually in Cologne, directly competing with Rising Media's AllSocial Marketing Conference, SMX, and CRM & Email Innovations World for digital marketing sponsors and attendees.
• The Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation runs large open source and cloud-native events (KubeCon, Open Source Summit) and is comparable in operating model to fwd:cloudsec, including the non-profit, community-driven positioning of cloud and security conferences.
• Web Summit: Web Summit is one of the largest technology conference operators in Europe (events in Lisbon, Dublin, Rio, Vancouver), directly competing with Rising Media for international tech attendees, sponsors, and marquee speakers across AI and digital marketing.
• ad:tech: ad:tech is a long-running digital advertising and marketing conference series (historically in New York, London, Tokyo, and other cities), directly comparable to Rising Media's search marketing, social media, and digital marketing portfolio.

Emerging players

• SaaStr Annual: SaaStr Annual is the largest community-driven SaaS conference, comparable in horizontal structure to Rising Media's vertical-specific events and increasingly relevant as Rising Media expands its AI/data offerings.

Broad incumbents

• Informa: Informa is the largest B2B events and exhibitions company globally, operating hundreds of tech, marketing, and cybersecurity conferences (including Black Hat, Money 20/20, and many others). It is the dominant incumbent Rising Media competes against for sponsors, speakers, and attendees in every one of its verticals.
• TechCrunch (Events): TechCrunch Disrupt is a flagship startup and technology conference with a large speaker and sponsor network, comparable to Rising Media's tech-forward event brands in terms of attendee profile and sponsor overlap.
• Money 20/20: Money 20/20 is a major global fintech and commerce events brand (now part of Ascential/Informa), comparable to Rising Media's Digital Marketplaces vertical (AutosBuzz, RecBuzz, RecommerceBuzz) in targeting marketplace and commerce executives.
• Gartner Events: Gartner operates major IT, cybersecurity, and data & analytics conferences (Gartner Security & Risk Management, Gartner Data & Analytics Summit) globally, comparable to Rising Media's enterprise cybersecurity and AI/data science attendee base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/risingmedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://risingmedia.com
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://risingmedia.com

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A1 record

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Rising Media Ltd.