Ministry of Sound takes a stake in West Yorkshire startup

ENTERTAINMENT business the Ministry of Sound has taken a stake in West Yorkshire startup TickX.

Nightclub and music business the Ministry of Sound, which was established in 1991 and evolved into a multimedia entertainment firm, has backed the Ilkley-based event ticket aggregation startup.

Ministry of Sound will support TickX with a database of millions of people looking to use the service to find gigs and events across the UK.

TickX was founded in December 2014 by entrepreneurs Steve Pearce and Sam Coley, and currently compares prices across fifteen ticket outlets, for more than 36,000 events.

The duo developed the offering, which is now available on iOS, Android and online, and plans to support into the European events market with help from Ministry of Sound.

Lohan Presencer, chief executive of Ministry of Sound, said: “We were incredibly impressed with the technology and customer experience that Steve and Sam have developed and the early adoption rates they’ve achieved.

“TickX is an exciting young brand and business which embodies our approach to challenging the norm and going up against big rivals.

“We are delighted to offer not only financial backing, but also access to our international marketing network and expertise.”

Steve Pearce, co-founder of TickX, said: “After spending three years at university in Manchester I became fed up with the hassle of trying to find out what was on each night and then the time-consuming task of hunting down the best-priced ticket.

“Adamant there should be a better way, I approached Sam and together we developed the idea for TickX – a simple platform to find events and compare prices.

“Our vision is to replicate the successful models of sites such as GoCompare and SkyScanner. It’s clear that comparison sites offer strong and sustainable growth potential as they dominate in almost every vertical sector. Somehow however, the events industry has been left out and it’s a gap we are now filling.”

Sam Coley, co-founder of TickX, said: “With our user-friendly platform, established relationships with the UK’s leading ticket sellers and now the backing of Ministry of Sound, one of the biggest household names in the music business, we firmly believe we have the best possible partners to make this business a huge success.

“The UK events market alone is worth over £2bn, so from a business perspective the opportunities for TickX are huge.”

 

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