9th June 2017
Leading global event technology platform joining forces with music ticketing pioneer Ticketfly to deliver superior technology, ticketing and marketing services to live music market
Eventbrite, the world's leading ticketing and event technology platform, acquired Ticketscript, a portfolio company of FPE Capital in January 2017, with Ticketscript bringing both a wider European footprint and deep music industry expertise to the combined group. As part of that deal FPE Capital received shares in Eventbrite, alongside cash consideration, to enable it to benefit from the continuing rapid growth of the global category leader, and now counts it amongst its portfolio of investments.
Eventbrite, which powers nearly three million events each year, has experienced tremendous traction in music since the acquisition of Ticketscript and the launch of Eventbrite Venue, the first fully integrated booking, operations and ticketing solution for live music venues, and has recently underlined its continued focus on this vertical by announcing an agreement with Pandora (NYSE: P) to acquire Ticketfly, a leading ticketing platform focused on music promoters and venues, for $200 million. Additionally, Eventbrite and Pandora plan to enter into a future distribution agreement to extend the benefits already proven out with the Pandora and Ticketfly integration.
Eventbrite has spent a decade building the largest global platform for live experiences and is on track to process close to 200 million tickets worth $3 billion in gross ticket sales in 180 countries in 2017. Both Eventbrite and Ticketfly have proven themselves to be valuable partners to the live music industry: Eventbrite has ticketed more than 175,000 concerts and music festivals helping them sell more than $1 billion in tickets since inception; and Ticketfly currently works with over 1,800 of the top music promoters and venues across North America, supporting 100,000 events per year which generate $600 million in gross ticket sales. The acquisition brings together Eventbrite's momentum in music, global scale, and expertise in event technology with Ticketfly's marketing excellence and strong track record of success in music.
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and we see immense alignment and opportunity with this union, especially as we continue to expand Eventbrite's global footprint in music," said Julia Hartz, CEO and co-founder of Eventbrite. "Together with Ticketfly, we will focus our collective energy on further developing our unparalleled solution and superior services for indie music venues and promoters around the world."
Ticketfly's co-founder and CEO Andrew Dreskin will lead Eventbrite's music efforts. "We are happy to be joining forces with our friends at Eventbrite," said Dreskin. "Ticketfly and Eventbrite are the two most progressive live events technology companies out there, and together we will create a platform that will be game-changing for independent venues and promoters. We plan to build on the great work that Ticketfly and Pandora have done and offer the benefits of that partnership to Eventbrite's customers, delivering even more live event notifications to Pandora listeners."
"The combination of Ticketfly and Pandora proved our thesis that listeners want easy access to live events, and that we have the ability to promote and sell tickets at scale in a highly targeted way," said Tim Westergren, CEO and founder of Pandora. "We look forward to expanding the opportunity to bring fans and artists together through our continued partnership with Eventbrite and Ticketfly."
For further information, please contact FPE Capital:
Henry Sallitt, Managing Partner
t. +44 (0)20 7036 5747 | e. henry.sallitt@fpecapital.com
Llewellyn John, Partner
t. +44 (0)20 7036 5658 | e. llewellyn.john@fpecapital.com
FPE Capital LLP is a growth private equity investor into UK lower mid-market companies. It targets businesses with advantaged business models that offer significant growth potential in large markets undergoing structural change. It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. www.fpecapital.com