Ticketing platform goes in for £750,000 funding round
A WEST YORKSHIRE startup has gone from strength to strength and is now set to close in on £750,000 in its latest round of funding to accelerate its already impressive growth.
TickX, launched in December 2014 by Steve Pearce, 24 and Sam Coley, 23, has bolstered its profile with a double whammy of wins, and the appointment of a non-executive director in industry veteran Tim Chambers, formerly vice president of Ticketmaster’s European Development division.
Mr Chambers had been mentor to the pair for nearly two years prior to his appointment.
The entrepreneurs also won Venturefest Edinburgh’s Pitch of the Day, and Ticketmaster’s international ‘DevJam Hackathon’ in London. Founder Steve Pearce said the company was aiming to globalise and become the “Skyscanner of event ticketing.”
Steve Pearce spoke to TheBusinessDesk.com following the company’s wins. He said: “We are currently growing rapidly, around 50% month-on-month for the past four months in terms of revenues, and are about to finalise a larger funding round, raising £750,000 through a series of value added private investors, including our original angel investors. We’re also currently in dialogue with a number of number of institutional funds.
“We’re raising capital so we can build a bigger development team,” said Mr Pearce, “implement new features and market to become a global go-to platform.”
The company, backed by a team of six who are all under 25 years of age, is looking to expand its workforce, although Mr Pearce described recruitment as “one of our biggest challenges to date.”
He said that there was not a large enough pool of developers in the UK, making roles competitive. Co-founder and CTO Sam Coley is also very keen on getting kids into coding, visiting schools to promote programming as a career.
TickX currently has 50,000 monthly active users and Mr Pearce said its “competitive advantage” lay in the diversity of its offering; not just in music but comedy, theatre and sporting events too.
“Unlike competitors we compare prices,” he said, “even if it’s sold out we’re the best place to buy a ticket.Tracking features will allow you to follow your fav artists and receive alerts when ticket prices for their events go up or down.”
“We’re a young team but we have surrounded ourselves with the most experienced and best investors, advisors and mentors. In Tim we have an industry veteran, extremely well connected in ticketing.
“It’s really going well, and we’re excited for the road ahead now. We’re enjoying the startup life. I’ve always wanted to do something I’m passionate about it, that is useable every day and this is it.”
