Amsterdam-based TicketSwap has raised €8.2 million in its first-ever funding round from Maarten Beucker Andreae’s Million Monkeys. The Dutch ticketing reseller reports that the funds will be used to enter new markets as well as develop and introduce new features for existing users.
Founded in 2012 by Frank Roor, Hans Ober, and Ruud Kamphuis, TicketSwap has remained bootstrapped until today’s funding announcement. Having used the service myself a number of times in The Netherlands, I can attest to the fact that TicketSwap puts a cap on sales prices and verifies sellers before any tickets are resold, thereby circumventing the dreaded practice of touting (a.k.a. scalping).
With Europe slowly but surely starting to awake from some strange dream where we all had to stay indoors, not attend any events in person, wear masks (not those of the party variety), and wash our hands until our skin bled, TicketSwap has seen a massive surge in interest on the platform, and decided now is the time to take on investment.
"Instead of having to take a step back due to COVID, we can now accelerate our growth. We are expanding to new markets and improving the quality of our service. Million Monkeys has a lot of experience in building businesses like ours. And it's always nice to find an investor that's already using your platform a lot," comments CEO Ober.
In addition to “just” a place to score tickets that might have sold out in moments, TicketSwap will be using a portion of the funding to flesh out a raffle process. The procedure will, hopefully, allow more people to have an increased chance of landing tickets to an event that’s oversubscribed.
Likewise, and take note Resident Advisor, TicketSwap is building out community features that will help them understand fans’ needs and preferences better, culminating in event recommendations.
“We want TicketSwap to become more than a marketplace for tickets'', says Ober. "It will be a part of the anticipation for an event or day trip. TicketSwap will develop into an app that people like to use regularly to discover new artists and shows, not just when they are looking to buy tickets.”
Photo: Natalie Hennis
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