Live Nation invests in Austin start-up Everfest

Everfest, an online festival discovery platform based in Austin, Texas, has raised US$3.6 million in series-A funding from a group of investors that includes Live Nation.

The funding round, co-led by Live Nation and venture-capital firm ATX Seed Ventures, will allow Everfest to “rapidly [expand] our portfolio of partner festivals globally over the next several quarters”, says co-founder Paul Cross (pictured). The company has raised $6m since its founding in 2014.

Everfest’s platform is aimed at both music fans and promoters, sponsors, vendors and artists, with the former able to discover new events via its search engine and the latter group to engage fans with VIP access, discounts, giveaways, presales and more. It currently has listings for 15,000 festivals, many of which are managed by the festival organisers directly.

It is also the parent company of online festival magazine Fest300, acquired last year.

“This is a massive, growing industry, and Everfest is providing a technology layer that to date has been lacking”

“We love what Everfest is doing to give festivals a true online home,” says Chris Shonk, a partner at ATX Seed Ventures. “This is a massive, growing industry, and Everfest is providing a technology layer that to date has been lacking. We see enormous potential to build efficiencies in connecting the entire festival network, such that the whole industry is driven forward.”

Other new investors include Firefly Music Festival producer Red Frog Events, Airbnb’s head of global hospitality and strategy, Chip Conley, and Benchmark Capital’s Bob Kagle.

As part of the deal, Shonk and Charlie Walker – co-founder of C3 Presents, since 2014 owned by Live Nation – join Everfest’s board of directors.

“We’ll be rapidly expanding our portfolio of partner festivals globally over the next several quarters,” adds Cross.

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