NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TickPick, the no-fee ticket marketplace that is transforming the event ticketing industry, announced today a $40 million investment from PWP Growth Equity. This will be TickPick’s first institutional funding round. The investment will allow TickPick to accelerate its marketing and business development initiatives and establish a data team to further improve the company’s best-in-class customer service by utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Founded in 2011 by Brett Goldberg and Chris O’Brien, TickPick has rapidly grown through technological innovation and acquisition. The company’s customer-centric platform offers a heightened user experience, highlighted by its full transparency approach in offering one “all in” price, resulting in less expensive event tickets for consumers. In 2018, TickPick purchased Razorgator, another secondary ticket marketplace which doubled the company’s customer base, and Rukkus, a live entertainment search engine with high-definition 360-degree seat-view functionality of sporting venues. TickPick has also distinguished itself in the industry through its partnerships with Firefly Music Festival and Riot Fest, the Big South and Western Athletic Conferences, Florida International, Georgia State and Santa Clara Universities, wrestling icon Ric Flair, Sports Illustrated Saturday Night Lights, Shaq's Fun House, and the Maxim Pregame Experience, among others. TickPick expects to surpass $200 million of gross transaction value in 2019, achieving more than 60% year-over-year growth.
Chris O’Brien, TickPick Co-Founder and Co-CEO, said, “At TickPick our mission is to continually improve the customer experience through technological innovation and industry-leading service. The investment from PWP Growth Equity allows us to continue to separate TickPick as the industry leader in customer satisfaction.”
Brett Goldberg, TickPick Co-Founder and Co-CEO, commented, “PWP Growth Equity has an established track record of leveraging their experience in digital marketplace, e-commerce and consumer companies to spur growth at companies like TickPick. We expect to benefit tremendously from this experience. PWP Growth Equity is the ideal partner for TickPick as we continue to scale.”
John McKee, a Managing Director of PWP Growth Equity, said, “We are extremely excited to partner with Chris, Brett and the entire TickPick team. We seek to partner with passionate and committed management teams with differentiated business models looking to further unlock their growth potential – and we found that in abundance in TickPick. Since its founding, TickPick has been disrupting the secondary event ticketing industry with its unique value proposition and established an incredibly loyal, passionate customer base. Our objective is to contribute to the further success of the TickPick brand and be an integral part of its increasing market share and national expansion.”
As part of the investment, Mr. McKee and Chip Baird (Partner and Co-Founder of PWP Growth Equity) will be joining TickPick’s Board of Directors.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to PWP Growth Equity in this transaction.
About TickPick
Founded in 2011, TickPick is reshaping the secondary event ticket marketplace with its no-fees approach. The company does not charge any fees for buyers, setting it apart from competitive firms that charge steep transaction fees. It also leverages its algorithms to look at the price/value ratio for tickets to offer value grading for buyers so they can get the optimal experience for their money. Users can also bid on tickets in a process that is similar to financial markets where supply and demand creates a more efficient marketplace.
For the last three years, TickPick has been named a Technology Fast 500 award winner, and a Deloitte-sponsored award for the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. TickPick also landed on Inc. 5000’s list and Crain's New York Business Fast 50 over that same time period.
Co-CEO's Christopher O'Brien and Brett Goldberg who saw inefficiencies in the ticket marketplace decided to build a more transparent and cost-effective solution that led to them to founding TickPick. For more information, visit www.tickpick.com.
About PWP Growth Equity
PWP Growth Equity is the middle market private equity group of Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management, managed by Chip Baird and David Ferguson. PWP Growth Equity manages private equity funds with aggregate commitments of $1.35 billion focused on growth-oriented, lower middle market companies, primarily in the United States, across the consumer, services, and industrial sectors. PWP Growth Equity seeks to partner with existing owners and management teams, providing both capital and experience in a tailored and flexible structure, to support the growth plans and vision for value creation. PWP Growth Equity’s current and former investments include: Quick Med Claims, SkinSpirit, The Real Real, 360training, Delphon Industries, Luna Grill, Hyphen Solutions, Black Bear Diner, MSA Security, MOD Pizza, YouFit Health Clubs, Western Windows and Build A Sign. For more information on PWP Growth Equity, please visit: http://www.pwpgrowthequity.com.