Lanyrd
Lanyrd is a Dublin-based social conference directory platform founded in 2010 that catalogs professional conferences, speakers, and events for attendees and organizers. The company raised a single seed round in 2011 and operates with 1-10 employees.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2006
- HeadquartersDublin, Ireland
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Lanyrd does
Lanyrd is a social conference directory platform founded in 2010 in Dublin, Ireland, by co-founder and CEO Simon Willison. The company operates as a small private firm with 1-10 employees and positioned itself as a community-driven catalog of professional conferences, speakers, and events where attendees and organizers could discover, track, and review conferences. Its functional model leaned on user-generated coverage of conferences and social signals rather than a transactional ticketing layer.
The company's core product was a web-based directory (lanyrd.com) that aggregated conference listings, speaker profiles, and attendee activity. The technical footprint described in the input is minimal: no proprietary technology stack, integrations, or product modules are disclosed beyond the basic directory interface. The firm raised a single seed round of $1.4 million in September 2011 from PROfounders Capital and Y Combinator, after which no further funding events, partnerships, product launches, or leadership additions are recorded in the input data.
Lanyrd's business model is not explicitly detailed in the source material — there is no disclosed pricing, revenue stream, customer segment breakdown, or monetization mechanism. The conference directory category has historically supported freemium or advertising-based monetization, but the input provides no direct evidence of revenue generation. The operating status, current headcount trajectory, and ownership structure are likewise not disclosed, limiting further inference.
Lanyrd firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Lanyrd
- Legal name
- Eventbrite, Inc.
- Website
- https://lanyrd.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2006
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Lanyrd is a Dublin-based social conference directory platform founded in 2010 that catalogs professional conferences, speakers, and events for attendees and organizers. The company raised a single seed round in 2011 and operates with 1-10 employees.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Lanyrd industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Conference Discovery Platform
- akta.pro primary industry
- Social Q&A & Knowledge Communities (BPAMABAI)
Keywords
Where Lanyrd is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dublin
- HQ country
- Ireland
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Lanyrd business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations
Revenue model
- Ticket Transaction Fees: Eventbrite charges transaction fees on ticket sales, taking a percentage or fixed fee per ticket sold. This is the primary revenue stream from event organizers using the platform to sell tickets.
- Event Marketing Services: Additional revenue from Eventbrite Ads for promoting events within the platform ecosystem.
- Event Payment Processing: Payment processing services for event transactions.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Lanyrd product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Lanyrd was a social conference directory platform that helped users discover, track, and share professional conferences and industry events. It connected attendees, speakers, and event organizers through user profiles, event listings, and social features centered on the professional conference ecosystem.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Lanyrd Social Conference Directory
Companies that use Lanyrd
Customer profileSegments6 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Lanyrd technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
Lanyrd partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves2 records
Expansion highlights1 record
Lanyrd competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Meetup: Community-driven event discovery platform focused on local interest-based groups. Comparable to Lanyrd in the social/community event-discovery model, though Meetup skews to recurring local meetups rather than professional conferences.
- Sched: Conference scheduling, agenda, and attendee-networking platform used by thousands of tech and academic conferences. Directly comparable to Lanyrd's core conference-directory functionality and target audience.
- Swapcard: Event app and AI-powered matchmaking/networking platform for trade shows and conferences. Comparable to Lanyrd's social-networking angle applied to conference attendees and speakers.
- AllConferences.com: Long-standing online directory of conferences, seminars, and conventions across industries. Directly comparable to Lanyrd's directory core, though with less of a social/networking layer.
- Grip: AI-driven event matchmaking and networking platform for B2B conferences and exhibitions. Directly comparable to Lanyrd's social-discovery + conference focus, with a similar attendee-experience proposition.
Broad incumbents
- Cvent: Large enterprise event management and venue-sourcing platform with strong conference and corporate-meeting focus. Comparable to Lanyrd on the conference side but addresses a much larger corporate procurement workflow.
- Hopin: Virtual and hybrid events platform built around conferences and professional events. Comparable to Lanyrd's conference audience, with a stronger orientation toward online/hybrid formats.
- Eventbrite: Acquirer of Lanyrd and the largest global self-serve event ticketing and discovery marketplace. Comparable because it operates the same event-discovery and ticketing workflow Lanyrd pioneered, but at much broader scale across concerts, festivals, conferences, and classes.
- Bizzabo: Enterprise event experience platform for conferences, summits, and field events. Comparable to Lanyrd at the upper end of the conference market where organizers need registration, marketing, and attendee engagement tools.
Emerging players
- Sessionboard: Call-for-speakers and speaker-management platform for conference organizers. Comparable to a specific slice of Lanyrd's conference-management workflow (speaker discovery and curation).
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses3 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights4 records
Customer concentration
Lanyrd social profiles
Digital presenceLanyrd financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Lanyrd leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Lanyrd funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Lanyrd M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Lanyrd
What does Lanyrd do?
Lanyrd was a social conference directory platform that helped users discover, track, and share professional conferences and industry events. It connected attendees, speakers, and event organizers through user profiles, event listings, and social features centered on the professional conference ecosystem.
Is Lanyrd a public or private company?
Lanyrd is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Lanyrd founded?
Lanyrd was founded in 2006. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Lanyrd based?
Lanyrd is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, in the Europe region.
How does Lanyrd make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Ticket Transaction Fees are the primary driver. The others are event Marketing Services and event Payment Processing.
Who are Lanyrd's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Meetup, Sched, Swapcard, AllConferences.com and Grip. Broad incumbents are Cvent, Hopin, Eventbrite and Bizzabo. Sessionboard is listed as an emerging player.
What industry is Lanyrd in?
Lanyrd's product category is Conference Discovery Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMABAI, Social Q&A & Knowledge Communities.