Digital ticketing service True Tickets is heading into the new year with its first equity financing and new plans for expansion.
The Boston-based startup announced Tuesday a $5 million seed funding round led by Logitix, a ticketing company that optimizes pricing, distribution and inventory management for the live event industry.
Founded in 2017, True Tickets is a B2B contactless digital ticketing service. One of the company’s key features is its ability to track the chain of custody on a ticket from point of sale to point of scan, even if it changes ownership, according to CEO and co-founder Matt Zarracina.
“What it’s boiling down to is getting the knowledge of the person who’s coming to the venue,” Zarracina said. “This foundational knowledge that we provide our clients is going to help them compete better and deliver better-tailored experiences for their audiences.”
True Tickets works with nine arts and cultural institutions across the country, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood in Massachusetts; the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida; and Shakespeare in the Park in New York. To date, True Tickets has delivered around 750,000 tickets.
Zarracina said Logitix and its financial backer ZMC will be great partners as the company expands into new industries. Logitix is a big player in professional sports ticketing, Zarracina said, which is a market True Tickets wants to explore.
“Sometimes there’s this misnomer you have to build this fully vertically integrated solution and close everyone off,” Zarracina said. “But if you look at ticketing broadly, collaboration is the key to success. With this partnership, that’s a key differentiator for us.”
True Tickets has 18 fully remote employees worldwide, including Zarracina and the company’s CTO in Boston. Zarracina said these new funds will allow the company to build out its product team. This team will continue operating True Tickets’ services and branch into new areas of research.
“That will allow us to accelerate not only development, but exploration and discovery to new features, new opportunities, new areas where we can add value in the ticketing ecosystem,” Zarracina said.
