Online ticket exchange Seatwave has received $17 million of fourth round (series D) funding, led by venture capitalist firm Accel Partners. As part of the investment, Accel partner Sonali De Rycker, who helped found Seatwave while at Atlas Venture, returns to the Seatwave board.
Accel joins existing investors Fidelity Ventures, Atlas Venture, Mangrove Capital Partners and Adinvest.
Seatwave currently operates local arms in the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, with a base in London. The company plans to use the latest investment to expand into further territories and for “general corporate purposes,” as outlined in a company statement.
“In a short space of time, we’ve been able to carve out a great position in the live entertainment space across Europe,” said Joe Cohen, founder and CEO of Seatwave. “We’re excited that Accel decided to support our next phase of growth, and we’re particularly happy to have Sonali back on the team.”
“We like to partner with talented and ambitious management teams building category-leading businesses,” added De Rycker. “As the live entertainment business has evolved, Seatwave has captured an enviable leadership position. We believe Seatwave’s management team will continue to redefine the market, and our goal is to help them build on their current momentum.”
Over the past three years, Seatwave has grown its revenue by 2,203%. Statistics from comScore show the service had a leading figure of over 1.9 million unique users in March and again in April. Last month, Seatwave was named the fastest growing digital company in Europe at the Media Momentum Awards.
