- No-fee ticket marketplace TickPick announced it raised $40 million from PWP Growth Equity and it is expected to hit $200 million in gross transaction value in 2019
TickPick — a no-fee ticket marketplace that is transforming the event ticketing industry — announced it has raised $40 million from PWP Growth Equity. This is considered TickPick’s first institutional funding round. And the investment will enable TickPick to accelerate its marketing and business development initiatives and establish a data team to further improve the company’s customer service by utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Founded by Brett Goldberg and Christopher O’Brien in 2011, TickPick has rapidly grown through technological innovation and acquisition. Plus the company’s customer-centric platform offers a heightened user experience and is highlighted by its full transparency approach in offering one “all in” price thus resulting in less expensive event tickets for consumers.
Last year, TickPick acquired Razorgator — another secondary ticket marketplace which doubled the company’s customer base. And TickPick also recently acquired Rukkus, a live entertainment search engine with high-definition 360-degree seat-view functionality of sporting venues.
TickPick has distinguished itself in the industry by partnering with festivals like Firefly Music Festival and Riot Fest, the Big South and Western Athletic Conferences, Florida International, Georgia State, and Santa Clara Universities along with Ric Flair, Sports Illustrated Saturday Night Lights, Shaq’s Fun House, and the Maxim Pregame Experience, etc.
TickPick does not charge any fees for buyers thus setting it apart from competitive firms that charge steep transaction fees. And it also leverages its algorithms to look at the price/value ratio for tickets to offer value grading for buyers so they can get the optimal experience for their money. Plus users can also bid on tickets in a process that is similar to financial markets where supply and demand creates a more efficient marketplace.
“At TickPick our mission is to continually improve the customer experience through technological innovation and industry-leading service,” said O’Brien in a statement. “The investment from PWP Growth Equity allows us to continue to separate TickPick as the industry leader in customer satisfaction.”
This year, TickPick is expecting to surpass $200 million in gross transaction value in 2019 and the company achieved more than 60% year-over-year growth.
“PWP Growth Equity has an established track record of leveraging their experience in digital marketplaces, e-commerce, and consumer companies to spur growth at companies like TickPick. We expect to benefit tremendously from this experience. PWP Growth Equity is the ideal partner for TickPick as we continue to scale,” added Goldberg.
In conjunction with this funding round, McKee and Chip Baird (PWP Growth Equity partner and co-founder) are joining TickPick’s Board of Directors.
“We are extremely excited to partner with Chris, Brett and the entire TickPick team. We seek to partner with passionate and committed management teams with differentiated business models looking to further unlock their growth potential – and we found that in abundance in TickPick,” explained PWP Growth Equity managing director John McKee. “Since its founding, TickPick has been disrupting the secondary event ticketing industry with its unique value proposition and established an incredibly loyal, passionate customer base. Our objective is to contribute to the further success of the TickPick brand and be an integral part of its increasing market share and national expansion.”
Over the last 3 years, TickPick has been named a Technology Fast 500 award winner and a Deloitte-sponsored award for the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to PWP Growth Equity in this transaction.
