51. NOQ Group – centralising payments for music and events organisers

Founder: Param Kanabar and Andrea Diaferio
Year founded: 2019
Website: noqgroup.com

Music festivals are a blast, but long queues? Not so much. NOQ Group cofounders Param Kanabar and Andrea Diaferio bonded at a Christmas party, sharing frustrations over how much time was spent waiting in line for food and drinks, missing their favourite acts perform.

They realised the problem for event organisers was this – manually tracking sales, commissions and payouts with spreadsheets was a time-consuming and error-prone process that led to miscalculations and delayed payments.

And so NOQ Group hit the main stage on a new mission – to offer a comprehensive management platform made especially for event organisers.

Our judges were impressed by the automated system that tracks sales, commissions and payouts in real-time – cutting down the administrative workload, minimising errors and speeding up payment processes. Working closely with different kinds of event operators, the all-in-one system takes care of all the important aspects of event management – from point-of-sale (POS) and payments to stock and merchandise control.

Validation of NOQ’s solution has come from a hefty £3.4 million investment in September 2024 and the company has formed partnerships with leading event operators, including Secret Garden Party, Green Man Festival, Brighton Pride and more.

What next? NOQ aims to be the go-to solution for every major event globally, while also expanding its features and partnerships to offer even more robust tools for event management. We can’t imagine we’ll be waiting too long in line to see this happen.

NOQ is a standout choice for the Startups 100 Index because of the way it approaches real challenges faced by event organisers and attendees alike. Its mix of practical solutions and fresh ideas makes it a game-changer in event management, and with so many top partners under its belt, it’ll undoubtedly set a new standard for the industry.