Spanish After-Market Ticket Exchange Ticketbis Scores Another €5.2M In Funding After Targeting Asia

Spanish startup Ticketbis, which operates an exchange for buying and selling after-market tickets to events in Europe, Latin America, and most recently Asia, has raised an additional €5.2 million in funding led by European VC Active Venture Partners, along with participation from existing investors. It brings total raised since being founded in 2009 to over €10 million.

The fact that the majority of the investment is VC money this time round is perhaps noteworthy after the company made a point of noting Spain’s hostile venture capital market back in August last year. A sign that the VC market is picking up again in Spain? Perhaps.

Meanwhile, Ticketbis says the new capital will be used to bed down in markets where it already operates — it claims to be the leader in Southern Europe and Latin America — and to accelerate growth in newly-entered regions, specifically name-checking Asia where it expects revenues to equal Europe and Latin America in 2015.

In other words, the company is betting big and remains very bullish about Asia as a market for “fan-to-fan” ticket sales, which perhaps speaks loudly for the company’s international ambitions — and refreshingly so for a Spanish startup.

Ticketbis, which operates in a total of 31 countries worldwide, says in the first half of 2014 it has seen a turnover of €29 million, which is more than it achieved throughout the whole of 2013. In addition, 50 per cent of sales recorded in the first quarter of the year came from Europe, while nearly 40 per cent were from Latin America and 10 per cent were from new markets, including, of course, Asia.

Competitors include a number of other aftermarket ticket exchanges such as Viagogo, Seatwave, Stubhub, and Getmein.