Festicket nabs $6.3 mln

Europe-based Festicket, which helps music fans book tickets to music festivals, has secured $6.3 million in funding. The investors included Lepe Partners, Wellington Partners, PROfounders and Playfair Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

London, United Kingdom – 29 June 2016. Festicket, Europe’s largest online platform for music festival experiences raises a $6.3m round led by Lepe Partners and existing investors pan-European VC firms Wellington Partners, PROfounders,and Playfair Capital. Arthur Kosten – ex-CMO of Booking.com, vente-privee Entertainment (VPE) – pioneer in online flash sale concept and global industry leader, and Jean-Charles Carré – the business partner and manager of world DJ Superstar David Guetta have also backed the London-based firm.

Festicket empowers music fans with a seamless service to discover and book tickets and travel packages for music festivals worldwide. The platform offers an end-to-end experience for music travelers, an efficient two-sided marketplace for 500+ music festivals across 40 different countries, and a network of 1,000 suppliers for accommodation and travel packages.

The new capital will be deployed into operational and marketing resources to grow the Festicket live music fan community, supplier base and brand globally. The start-up last raised a $2.7 million Series-A round in September 2014 – following on from a $680K seed in 2013, which take’s Festicket total funding. The music industry is in the midst of a secular shift towards live experiences versus record sales.

Millennials are spending more on events and live experiences than ever before and enjoying music tourism. Economies in the UK, US and Central Europe are hosting significant growth and income from such music tourism. Festicket is uniquely positioned to accelerate its international expansion into fast-growing markets in Europe and the US to capitalise on these trends.

Zack Sabban, CEO & co-founder of Festicket said “we have the opportunity to build a global internet business that can change the face of the live music fan industry. Well over 60 million domestic and international travelers are now willing to experience festivals as holidays. We intend to provide them with the most comprehensive and experiential platform to search, discover and book music trips.”

After an incredible 425% average YoY growth over the last 2 years, Festicket now has strategic supports from experienced and successful investors to make Festicket the world leading seller of music festivals.

“The music industry is experiencing a significant technology-driven shakeup. At festivals, fans and artists can share unforgettable experiences together. Festicket is at the nexus of this ecosystem, giving artists the opportunity to broadcast their tours to fans and allowing them to seamlessly book tickets, travel and accommodation packages in one place. The synergies are clear, so I am excited to back the Festicket team!” commented the business partner and manager of world renowned DJ and music producer David Guetta, Jean-Charles Carré.

Jonnie Goodwin, founder of Lepe Partners and co-founder of Founders Forum said: “We are proud to be working with and investing in Festicket. The market opportunity for the business is huge and growing – in Europe, alone there are now more than 3,000 festivals for music fans of all ages. We are looking forward to actively supporting the team with their growth plans.”

“We want to drive market penetration through category-leading technology and experience innovations to inspire music festival-goers around the world. This new financing gives us the resources to strengthen our technical team and develop our mobile product to bring Festicket to music fans everywhere they go.” added co-founder and CPO, Jonathan Younes.

Since launching, Festicket has enabled 250,000+ travelers from 120 countries to enjoy music festival experience curated by the platform. Originally launched in English, the site is now also available in French and German, and will deploy native-speaking teams and local offices to each market.

Festicket provides fans of live music a unique, hassle-free, and money-saving service to discover and book ticket & packages for their next festival trips. Working closely with its festival partners and suppliers,Festicket packages festival tickets, accommodation, travel, and add-ons to ensure that festival-goers’next live music experience is as simple and pleasant as possible.

Festicket has quickly grown to be Europe’s largest music festival platform with over 500+ music festivals on offer in 2016, a community of 900k+ festival-goers, and attracts 2m unique monthly visitors.

For further information, please visit www.festicket.com