Festicket raises $10.5m to fuel international growth

UK-based festival travel portal Festicket has secured a further US$10.5m in investment to fund its expansion internationally.

The series-D round is led by venture-capital firm Beringea, with Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures fund, Channel 4’s Commercial Growth Fund, merchant bank Lepe Partners, investment advisory firm U-Start and ex-Spinnin’ Records CEO Eelko Van Kooten also participating.

Prior to the latest round, Festicket had raised $13.7m from investors including Lepe Partners, PROfounders, U-start, Playfair, Wellington and Windcrest, with the most recent, Lepe-led funding round amounting to $6.3m.

Zack Sabban, CEO and co-founder of Festicket, comments: “With this new investment we will be able to accelerate the expansion of our unique business model internationally and to more verticals. Our success so far has been driven by our focus on content, community and commerce, so we will use the same ingredients to become the go-to global brand for live event experiences.”

Festicket’s platform allows music festival fans to book tickets and travel packages for more than 1,200 events worldwide. Its two-sided marketplace, based on network of over 4,000 accommodation and travel suppliers, has served more than two million travellers from 120+ countries since 2012.

“With millions of monthly visitors to its website, Festicket is uniquely positioned to help festivals around the world grow”

Alongside its booking solution, Festicket has become a leading platform for festival discovery, through its Festicket Guide, Festicket Magazine and new Festival Finder tool, which helps Spotify users find festivals via their listening habits.

In September it hired Lauren Pye, formerly of Live Nation’s Universe ticketing platform, to lead expansion into the US – part of a strategy to become the world’s leading “live events experiences platform”, with a current focus on North America and Asia.

“Beringea’s investment in Festicket is underpinned by a fundamental shift in global consumer habits,” comments Eyal Malinger, investment director at Beringea, who joins the Festicket board. “Unprecedented demand – particularly among millennial consumers – for experiences over material possessions has fuelled the meteoric rise of ‘festival tourism’. Festicket sits at the epicentre of this trend, and, as Europe’s largest vendor of festival travel and tickets, it has enabled millions of people to uncover new music, culture, and experiences.

“With millions of monthly visitors to its website, we felt that Festicket is uniquely positioned to help festivals around the world grow and attract new customers. Prior to Festicket, discovering and purchasing festival tickets, travel, accommodation and experiences was fragmented, time-consuming and often restricted only to experienced festivalgoers.

“Its platform – built by one of the most exceptional collection of founders and management we have encountered – has transformed this dynamic, opening up the market to first-time consumers and dramatically reducing the time and effort required to enjoy the festival experience.”

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