Major restructure at online ticket firm
An online ticket firm which aimed to use technology to cut out the middle-man and save sport and music fans money has undergone a major restructure.
An announcement on the restructure at Manchester based Vibe Tickets was made by Vela – an investment company.
Vibe Tickets was set up by Luke Massie and has recently been bought of administration by him.
The last fund raise completed by Vibe Tickets in October 2017, resulted in Vela owning a 5.1% shareholding in Vibe Tickets at a total cost of £400,000.
The fund raising was carried out to provide additional working capital and to enable Vibe Tickets to expand its offering into new areas.
The funds raised in October by Vibe Tickets represented six months of future cash requirements during which time it was anticipated that discussions with new investors and existing shareholders would result in Vibe Tickets being able to raise further funds of in excess of £1m.
Vibe Tickets is a pre-revenue business at the present time.
During these discussions between existing shareholders and new investors it became clear that there was a need to restructure the Vibe Tickets business in order to attract more substantial funding from investors.
As a result it has not been possible for Vibe Tickets to reach agreement on the terms of a further fundraise with investors.
The board of Vibe Tickets therefore had no alternative but to seek advice which required the directors to act in the interests of both creditors and shareholders, resulting in company being placed into administration on 30 April
Luke Massie has since formed a new holding company, Vibe Group Holdings Limited (“VGHL”).
In the coming weeks, it is expected that VGHL will acquire 100% of Vibe Tickets and 90% of Vibe Pay.
The remaining 10% equity holding in Vibe Pay will be owned by key management of Vibe Pay. It is the intention that further funds will be raised by VGHL.
VGHL will consist of the following 2 businesses.
Vibe Tickets is a peer to peer social community with a marketplace at its core, connecting fans, allowing them to cut out the middle man and save fees.
A company competing directly with the big four operating in the space; Viagogo, Seatwave, StubHub, GetMeIn.
Vibe is fast becoming the resale platform of choice for consumers and has now grown to over 84,000 active users.
Following completion of the above restructuring of Vibe Tickets further investment is expected to be committed to VGHL from Scott Fletcher (£500,000) and Vela Technologies (£200,000).
Antony Laiker, Executive Director of Vela, commented: “We have supported Luke Massie and Vibe Tickets since 2016.
“We saw the opportunity to support a business that was both highly disruptive and would enable ordinary fans of music and sport, who were being forced to pay excess fees on top of inflated prices, to benefit from a transparent social media platform to buy and sell tickets.
“Vibe has made strong headway reaching over 84,000 users and has generated over £7m of ticket volume, all with minimal marketing spend. Vibe Tickets is doing what it set out to do – disrupting the big players.
“Various financing routes for Vibe Tickets were explored. However, the corporate structure surrounding Vibe Tickets did not lend itself to securing further funding.
“Based on previous discussions with the management of Vibe Tickets, we anticipate that the “restructured” Vibe business will provide the platform for Vibe to engage with parties who have expressed interest in supporting and growing the business further.”
