Ticketing and marketing platform Universe expands to Europe

Toronto-headquartered social ticketing platform Universe has announced plans for its first European office.

The company’s business development director, Joseph McAuliffe, make the move to London to head up the expansion after two years based at Universe’s San Francisco office.

The Universe platform, often dubbed the ‘eBay for activities’, combines ticketing software with a suite of promotional and marketing tools designed to help promoters raise awareness of and sell more tickets to their events. It was acquired by Live Nation last year.

Universe’s presence in Europe will, says, Live Nation, allow Ticketmaster to offer a self-service function across the entire continent, complementing its existing TicketWeb general-admission platform.

Universe’s presence in Europe will allow Ticketmaster to offer a self-service function across the entire continent, complementing its existing general-admission platform, TicketWeb

“It is an exciting time for growth within the UK and European market[s],” says Universe co-founder and CEO Ben Raffi. “Our technology and tools have been extremely well received in Canada and the US, with over 31,000 event organisers using our platform to sell tickets. Expanding our international presence is the next step for us as we continue to disrupt the event industry.”

“We’re looking forward to having the Universe team here in London,” adds Ticketmaster’s Mark Yovich. “We’ll be working closely with them to offer their unique event ticketing solutions to event organisers across the UK and Europe.

“Ben Raffi and his team have done an incredible job in establishing themselves as the go-to advanced DIY ticketing and event marketing platform which will be of huge benefit to our existing clients. The company sits nicely within our overall platform portfolio of world-class solutions.”