Nextech3D.AI (CSE:NTAR, OTCQX:NEXCF) CEO Evan Gappelberg talked with Proactive about the company’s recent acquisition of KraftyLab, a move designed to significantly scale its experiential technology platform.
Joining him was KraftyLab CEO Boris Sotnikov, who shared the story behind building KraftyLab and how the company became a leader in virtual team-building experiences for large corporations.
Proactive: All right, welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Evan Gappelberg, CEO of Nextech3D.ai. Evan, it's good to see you again. How are you?
Evan Gappelberg (EG): I'm great. Great to be back.
Also joining us is the CEO of KraftyLab, Boris Sotnikov. Boris, it's good to see you. How are you?
Boris Sotnikov (BS): I'm doing well.
Good to have you both along. Evan, your acquisition of KraftyLab is what we're here to talk about, and what the next stages are. Why don’t we start from the beginning again—remind everyone of the reasoning behind the acquisition?
EG: Sure. KraftyLab is a very interesting platform that Boris built. It’s an experiential platform for team building at large companies with thousands of employees across the globe. He has a who's who list of customers including Google, Meta, Netflix, and Spotify—hundreds of blue-chip clients. They use the platform for team building and engagement. We thought: how cool would it be if we used AI to automate the onboarding process and scale from 100 experiences to potentially thousands? He’s done a great job, and we’re excited to build this with him.
Boris, tell me a bit about the company itself and the work you’ve done to get to this point.
BS: Absolutely. The foundation of KraftyLab is about bringing people together through experience. As a bootstrapped entrepreneur, I listened closely to our customers to find the best product-market fit. We found the corporate world, especially during COVID, was looking to bring employees together virtually. Our platform was one of the first to offer that. As we grew, we began working with major clients—Google, Spotify, Nike, Netflix. Now we’re ready to go even bigger and global.
You mentioned listening to customers—was that a driving force in shaping the platform?
BS: Yes. For example, when we first launched in 2017, I saw a trend of people spending more on experiences than products. Originally, I focused on bringing consumers into bars and restaurants to book events online. That was working. But after landing our first corporate client, we saw there was much more opportunity in corporate engagement. That was reflected in the revenue, and we pivoted to focus on corporate experiences.
Evan, given the clients they have, it sounds like there’s real potential to scale by combining what Nextech3D.ai and KraftyLab each offer?
EG: Absolutely. One quick win is turning Boris's kits into 3D models. We've been making 3D models for years. HR executives could interact with the kits virtually, seeing them in full 3D. That would differentiate KraftyLab—no one else is doing that. Then there’s the automation aspect—it’s like the Uber of experiences. Boris has already built the foundation. If we scale from 100 to thousands of events, this could grow globally, exponentially.
Boris, was that synergy what made the partnership appealing?
BS: Definitely. The synergy between what Evan built at Nextech and what we had was perfect. I immediately saw how their AR tech could solve major pain points—like helping clients visualize the kits. That’s difficult when we deal with thousands of products from third-party vendors. We’re a platform for experiential vendors, and this technology expands what we can offer. The global aspect is critical too—our clients need to connect global workforces through these experiences, and that’s complex. Nextech is the right partner to solve that.
Quotes have been lightly edited for style and clarity