TickX’s Steve Pearce says the company has gone from strength-to-strength since he and fellow founder Sam Coley rejected three investment offers on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den show.
Millions of TV viewers watched as the duo – whose platform was dubbed ‘the Uber of events’ by ‘dragon’ Peter Jones – chose not to accept the terms put forward by panellists on the hit BBC2 programme on New Year’s Day.
Jones said that the young founders could live to regret the decision but, since the episode was filmed in May, TickX has raised £750,000 ($925,000/€880,000) – 10 times more than the £75,000 offered on Dragons’ Den and at a significantly higher valuation – grown revenues 40 per cent month-on-month, and reached 100,000 active users.
Chief executive Pearce – who will be speaking at this year’s Ticketing Technology Forum – said: “Entering the Dragons’ Den was the most daunting but brilliant experience. We appreciated the offers from the three dragons but stuck to our guns as we felt they undervalued our company.
“We have since secured £750,000 in funding from some incredible investors and have seen rapid month-by-month growth. We think this proves our decision was the right one and we’re looking forward to an exciting 2017 as TickX continues to grow.”
TickX said it aims to replicate the success of Go Compare and Skyscanner, but for events. Partnering with the UK’s leading ticket sellers, including Ticketmaster, Skiddle and Viagogo, TickX.co.uk pulls over 70,000 events from more than 30 ticket sellers into one feed, letting users compare prices for gigs, festivals, sports, theatre, club nights and comedy.
Speaking to StartUps.co.uk, Pearce added: “Entering the den is clearly a bit of gamble. Since most entrepreneurs are natural risk-takers and given the potential upside of getting a dragon on board and the opportunity to significantly build your company’s profile, I certainly think it’s worth a shot!”
Ticketing Technology Forum takes place in Dublin from April 5-6. Click here for more details
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