Festival experience platform lands $10.5m funding for push into North America and Asia

A music festival experience portal has secured $10.5m (c.£8.18m) in a Series D funding round led by transatlantic venture capital firm Beringea

Festicket will use the investment to continue its push into the North American and Asian markets and broaden its range of events.

The company offers music fans a platform for discovering and booking tickets and travel packages on more than 1,200 music festivals worldwide.

Festicket’s two-sided marketplace taps into a network of over 4,000 accommodation and travel suppliers. To date, it has served more than two million people from over 120 countries.

The Series D funding will enable Festicket to continue building its discovery and community network through new marketing channels. This will include a content and media partnership with broadcaster Channel 4 and ongoing investment in research and development.

Beringea led the round, which drew participation from InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s venture capital fund; Channel 4’s Commercial Growth Fund; and investors Lepe Partners, U-Start and ex Spinnin’ Records chief exec Eelko Van Kooten.

Festicket CEO and co-founder Zack Sabban said: “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.”

Jonathan Younes, CPO and co-founder of Festicket, commented: “Our product will continue to develop and innovate alongside the business. We’ll be launching exciting new features for our community that make discovering and booking live events easier and more intuitive than ever before.”

Eyal Malinger, investment director at Beringea, will join the Festicket board alongside Treatwell COO Ben Leaver.

Eyal said: “Unprecedented demand – particularly among millennial consumers – for experiences over material possessions has fuelled the meteoric rise of ‘festival tourism’.

“Prior to Festicket, discovering and purchasing festival tickets, travel, accommodation and experiences was fragmented, time-consuming, and often restricted only to experienced festival-goers.”

He continued: “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.”

Festicket is headquartered in London and has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Porto and San Francisco.

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