AGNT, an online marketplace that makes it easier for event organizers to book entertainers, won the Edmonton finale of Startup TNT's Investment Summit VIII.
The app allows customers to browse for, book, and pay talent, while agents and artists can manage their careers from the AGNT Pro side, co-founder and CEO Viet Nguyen said in his Nov. 16 pitch to investors before a live audience at the Alberta Machine Learning Institute on Nov. 16.
"You can kind of look at AGNT as a way for artists to manage a career, but we can also see data on our end and watch artists as they grow," Nguyen said.
AGNT's first iteration gained over 12,000 users in its first two months while only focusing on a niche DJ market in Alberta. Nguyen said the company has a waitlist of 2,000 users for its next edition, and the first two weeks of beta testing assisted with over 35 bookings.
Nguyen is a partner and talent buyer with Boodang Music Canada, where he has worked for 23 years. He was responsible for bringing Tiesto to Edmonton before he became a global superstar.
"When I was in my 20s, Tiesto was not a big DJ," Nguyen said in a Q&A after his pitch. "You grow with them, and that's sort of how AGNT's gonna work as well."
AGNT will focus next on reaching out to regional brand ambassadors like liquor stores, launching the app on iOS and Android, and expanding into the Swedish market in the first half of 2024.
The other Edmonton finalists were AllSeeing, a radio-sensing company with applications in health sciences; Drift Golf, a management tool for golf courses; Kid-Drop, a shuttle service for busy parents; and Roshan Water Solutions, which does rapid tests of water quality.
Startup TNT held investment summits in three other locations at the same time. RetinaLogik won in Calgary; fidu won in Saskatoon; and FeedFlo won in Winnipeg. Each winner will receive at least $150,000 in angel investment.