Miami-based TicketRev closed a $1.1 million pre-seed funding round with investors that include 500 Startups, Soma Capital, Techstars and MLB's Minnesota Twins, which made TicketRev part of its tech accelerator last year.
Founded in 2022, the startup helps fans find ticket deals for live events such as concerts and sporting events. The platform lets users name their price and preferred seating location. From there, the ticket sellers can choose to accept an offer and offload unsold inventory.
"People love going to events, but hate the process of buying tickets," TicketRev founder and CEO Jason Shatsky said. "We want to make that easier, fairer and more affordable."
The company reports it has more than 5,000 active users.
Unlike some of its competitors, there are no fees for buyers who purchase tickets from TicketRev. The platform earns money through an 8.5% fee paid by sellers, including teams and event venues.
On the heels of its funding round, the company is launching on a mobile app. It plans to use the capital to improve the platform and hire employees for its engineering and marketing teams, according to a news release.
Fouad Farhat, an investor at Soma Capital, said the seed funding will allow the company to expand nationally by onboarding new brokers, teams and venues.
"The power of TicketRev lies in its ability to align incentives between all the involved stakeholders – buyers, sellers, teams and venues – to create a win-win situation for everyone," Farhat said.
Shatsky said demand for live event tickets exploded in 2022, when there were 350% more concerts compared to 2019. He anticipates that consumers will continue to gravitate toward group events after years of avoiding them due to Covid-19.
"We recognize that, coming out of a pandemic, live events bring people together, and we want to help make tickets more accessible," he said.
