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New live entertainment tech accelerator focuses on secure mobile ticketing

Broadway Tech Accelerator (BTA) has named True Tickets and fan experience firm Parallux as the first two startups to take part in its programme.

The accelerator programme is designed to foster innovation in the live entertainment sector, through support from its principal investors, The Shubert Organisation, IT Mentors and Exponential Creativity Ventures.

BTA helps founding teams accelerate their businesses into client acquisition and follow-on investment.

True Tickets is a secure mobile ticketing service enabled by the IBM Blockchain. The business-to-business solution integrates with existing ticketing platforms without replacing existing infrastructure.

The True Tickets service allows venues across arts, live entertainment and sports to better govern how mobile tickets are transacted, reclaiming control of their tickets from the secondary market so they can more effectively manage their patrons’ experience.

“Ticketing is the most challenging part of live events for both venues and patrons,” said Matt Zarracina, co-founder and chief executive of True Tickets.

“Joining the Broadway Tech Accelerator gives us the strategic opportunity to partner with arguably the largest and most well-known ticketing platform on Broadway. But this partnership goes further – we also now have access to a broad set of industry veterans who have seen the problems in ticketing first-hand, and can help us accelerate our progress for mutual success.”

Parallux delivers immersive experiences to mass audiences through art, technology, and entertainment.

The BTA team works with founders over the course of the 13-week programme – and through subsequent three- to six-month pilot programmes. Founders will accelerate their progress in infrastructure, product development, market fit, customer/client discovery, scalability, revenue generation, as well as providing strategies to attract follow-on capital infusion.

Kyle Wright, principal at BTA, said: “We are thrilled to have two fantastic participants in our cohort focused on two huge points of focus for our industry. True Tickets provides a straightforward, efficient solution for growing consumer protection concerns, while Parallux will accelerate the inevitable intersection of technology, live entertainment and storytelling – it’s an exciting time for the live entertainment ecosystem.”

Image: David Joyce