Nextech3D.AI (CSE:NTAR, OTCQX:NEXCF, FRA:1SS) CEO Evan Gappelberg talked with Proactive about the company’s latest strategic expansion, revealing plans to move beyond its traditional focus on indoor trade shows and into the rapidly growing outdoor events market.
During the interview, Gappelberg explained that the company sees a major opportunity in outdoor events such as marathons and large public gatherings.
Nextech3D.ai already provides mapping solutions through partners for high-profile events including the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon, and the company is now expanding the offering as a direct solution to clients.
Alongside the market expansion, Nextech3D.ai is implementing a 20–30% price increase for its services. According to Gappelberg, the company had been priced well below competitors for several years.
The new pricing structure includes flexible models such as subscription-style monthly payments and revenue-sharing options designed to appeal to a wider range of customers.
Gappelberg said these initiatives are expected to strengthen margins and accelerate the company’s push toward profitability. With robust margins already in place, even modest revenue growth could have a meaningful impact on the bottom line.
Proactive: Welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Evan Gappelberg. He is the CEO of Nextech3D.ai. Evan, good to see you again. How are you?
Evan Gappelberg: I'm good. Great to be back.
The company is out with news today. We talked about the changes you’ve made and how you’ve been targeting a number of events. Now you’re expanding that reach. The news release makes a lot of sense, so I’ll let you share the details.
Historically, we’ve been in the indoor event space, but there’s a massive opportunity in the outdoor event space. What we’ve recently announced is an important next step where we’re expanding into new event verticals beyond the traditional trade show. At the same time, we’re implementing a 20–30% increase in pricing.
These two moves are designed to increase our addressable market, improve our business, and accelerate our path toward sustained profitability. Profitability is within reach. I’m seeing it happen in our business because our profit margins are robust. Even a little bit of growth pushes us closer to profitability, and opening new markets will accelerate that further.
In the news you also talked about the opportunity with outdoor events. There are so many of them, and the tools you’ve built appear easily transferable.
Yes, they are. We didn’t have to build a new platform. We don’t really have to do anything that costs us any money. We’re actually increasing our price, and the platform is ready to scale. These incremental revenue gains will hit our bottom line from both pricing and expansion.
It’s a big opportunity. We already supply partners with hundreds of maps for this new target market — the outdoor market. For example, we supply maps for the New York City Marathon, the Boston Marathon and other large outdoor events. Previously we were supplying those through a partner, but now we’re going to offer it directly as one of our solutions.
The 20–30% increase in price — you felt that was achievable and customers would still want to use the products?
Yes. We’ve been below market by about 20–30% for some years now. That worked before, but now it’s time to level up. Even after the increase, we’re still priced below competitors — just not as far below as before.
We’ve also changed our pricing strategy. Instead of charging a one-time price — say $2,500 for a map — we might charge $300 per month, which totals $3,600 annually. We’ve also introduced a 3% platform fee in some cases.
We’re also creating flexible options. For example, if someone doesn’t have a budget upfront, they might pay nothing initially and instead share 6% of revenue. The goal is to create offerings that appeal to a wide range of customers rather than a one-size-fits-all price.
The overall result is a 20–30% increase in pricing for our services, which investors should pay attention to. Combined with expansion into new markets, we believe this will significantly impact the bottom line and propel the company toward profitability. That’s the goal and we’re not stopping until we reach it.
Quotes have been lightly edited for style and clarity