Ticketing co Lyte raises $33m in series-B round

San Francisco-based ticketing technology platform Lyte has raised US$33 million in a series-B funding round, bringing the company’s total amount raised to $48m.

Lyte, founded in 2013, says that the funding will allow it to continue its growth beyond the nearly 300 artist tours, festivals, venues and live events that use the firm’s technology. It raised $15m last October.

The ticketing technology enables fans to reserve, return and exchange tickets through its proprietary risk-free reservations system, which has been utilised by Coachella, as well as major tours with the likes of Mumford & Sons and Wilco.

Through its proprietary Always OnSale ticket reservation technology, fans can reserve tickets far in advance of an event’s traditional on-sale date and even before all of the event details are known – enabling artists and events to go to market and aggregate demand.

Joining as first-time Lyte investors are Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital, music icon Quincy Jones and Rocketship VC.

“Our rapid and continued growth – despite the hardships that have hit the live events sector in 2020 – serves as a testament”

In addition, returning to the fund is Jackson Square Ventures, Accomplice, Correlation Ventures, Philip Deutch, Zander Lurie and digital media entrepreneur and Lyte board member, Rob Goldberg.

“We believe buying tickets should be no different from any other consumer purchase: fans should be able to support their favourite artists, venues and events without the worry of what to do with their tickets if their life plans change, nor should they be driven to the unregulated secondary market and learn to become amateur ticket scalpers just because they need their money back,” says Ant Taylor, Lyte founder and CEO.

“We have made consumer choice and flexibility in event ticketing a reality through an investment in technology and partnerships with all of the stakeholders in the events we work with: talent and their representatives, promoters, and venues,” continued Taylor.

“This approach allows us to build products that offer new ways for fans to safely and easily buy more tickets. Our rapid and continued growth – despite the hardships that have hit other parts of the live events sector in 2020 – serves as a testament to the ways our platform and philosophy are bringing better consumer experiences and business outcomes to all we deal with, and we anticipate bringing those benefits to millions of event-goers worldwide by the end of 2021.”

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