Japanese Ticketing Startup Peatix Raises $3M Series A To Fund Expansion To US, Singapore

Japanese e-ticketing startup Peatix just closed a Series A round of $3 million, led by Fidelity Japan. The company is seeking to be the Eventbrite of Asia, and provides a platform for event organizers to manage ticket sales. It says it’s already had 10,000 events listed on its platform since it launched in May 2011. This new funding injection builds on its seed round of $1 million that it closed almost exactly a year ago. Its seed was provided by a number of investors, including 500 Startups, DG Incubation, Itochu Technology Ventures, and SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg. 500 Startups and Itochu also participated in the Series A round, which will see Fidelity Japan’s David Milstein joining Peatix’s board of directors. Along with the funding, Peatix is expanding to Singapore, with co-founder Emi Takemura moving, family in tow, to the island state to head up Asia. The company also launches its services in the US today, and is looking to hire there, as well as in Singapore and in Japan. Peatix has 20 staff in Japan, three in Singapore and six in New York. Takemura told us that the plan is to support 30,000 to 50,000 events over the next year—about 10 times the volume of events that it’s handled so far. Peatix faces a big challenger in Singapore. Sistic is the dominant ticketing provider in the country, and has a number of exclusive arrangements with large event organizers and venues. In 2010, it had about 60 to 70 percent of the market exclusively, according to The Business Times. Takemura said Peatix isn’t planning to compete head-on with Sistic. “There are incumbent ticketing companies in each country, and that is the same in the US and in Japan. We grew for the past two years with little conflict with traditional ticketing companies in Japan, because there is a large volume of non-traditional events that can benefit from online registration,” she said. Examples of such “non-traditional” events include those at smaller venues, and meetups and parties by independent organizers. The volume of these events are growing in the three markets that Peatix has targeted, she said. Some other Asian startups have decided to co-exist with the big players. VNTIC, from Vietnam, connects directly with Southeast Asia’s big ticket platforms. It allows people to buy from Sistic, Ticketcharge in Malaysia and Kiostix in Indonesia, rather than try to court event organizers over from them.
peatix

Japanese e-ticketing startup Peatix just closed a Series A round of $3 million, led by Fidelity Japan.

The company is seeking to be the Eventbrite of Asia, and provides a platform for event organizers to manage ticket sales. It says it’s already had 10,000 events listed on its platform since it launched in May 2011.

This new funding injection builds on its seed round of $1 million that it closed almost exactly a year ago. Its seed was provided by a number of investors, including 500 Startups, DG IncubationItochu Technology Ventures, and SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg.

500 Startups and Itochu also participated in the Series A round, which will see Fidelity Japan’s David Milstein joining Peatix’s board of directors.

Along with the funding, Peatix is expanding to Singapore, with co-founder Emi Takemura moving, family in tow, to the island state to head up Asia. The company also launches its services in the US today, and is looking to hire there, as well as in Singapore and in Japan. Peatix has 20 staff in Japan, three in Singapore and six in New York.

Takemura told us that the plan is to support 30,000 to 50,000 events over the next year—about 10 times the volume of events that it’s handled so far.

Peatix faces a big challenger in Singapore. Sistic is the dominant ticketing provider in the country, and has a number of exclusive arrangements with large event organizers and venues. In 2010, it had about 60 to 70 percent of the market exclusively, according to The Business Times.

Takemura said Peatix isn’t planning to compete head-on with Sistic. “There are incumbent ticketing companies in each country, and that is the same in the US and in Japan. We grew for the past two years with little conflict with traditional ticketing companies in Japan, because there is a large volume of non-traditional events that can benefit from online registration,” she said.

Examples of such “non-traditional” events include those at smaller venues, and meetups and parties by independent organizers. The volume of these events are growing in the three markets that Peatix has targeted, she said.

Some other Asian startups have decided to co-exist with the big players. VNTIC, from Vietnam, connects directly with Southeast Asia’s big ticket platforms. It allows people to buy from Sistic, Ticketcharge in Malaysia and Kiostix in Indonesia, rather than try to court event organizers over from them.


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