FF&P invests £7m in ticketscript

Harriet Bailey
28 May 2014

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FF&P Private Equity has invested ТЃ7m in London-based digital self-ticketing solution ticketscript.

The fresh capital will be used to continue its international expansion, most likely in France, Ireland and the Nordics, and to develop new services for its clients. FF&P also aims to increase the sales and marketing activities in the five regions in which ticketscript currently operates.

Just over £4m of the investment is new growth capital, with the remaining £3m used to buy the shares of exiting investors.

FF&P became involved with the ticketing service through one of its shareholders, who is also a backer of another FF&P portfolio company. FF&P director Henry Sallitt stated the company's "highly disruptive offering" and attractive revenue model led to the investment.

Ticketing groups are increasingly attracting the attention of European VCs. In December 2013, Russian VC iTech Capital injected $10m into Ticketland, a Moscow-based event ticketing group for eastern Europe.

Company
Since its founding in 2006 in the Netherlands, the company has expanded across Europe and is now headquartered in London with offices in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona and Berlin.

The 59-strong company provides event organisers with solutions, tools and technology to sell tickets directly to audiences. It has worked with more than 70,000 events across Europe, such as the Mobo awards, Brighton Pride and Waterstones, and sold more than 11 million tickets for its clients.

Unlike large companies such as TicketMaster, which own the entire customer relationship, ticketscript provides a white label solution to enable event organisers to offer tickets themselves. It is free at the point of use for event organisers as costs of approximately £1.50 per ticket are passed onto the consumer. The costs of purchasing a ticket are low, leading to 80% growth margins, according to FF&P.

People
Henry Sallitt is director of FF&P, while Llewelyn John is investment director; both take a seat on ticketscript's board. Frans Jonker is CEO of ticketscript.

Advisers
Equity – Baker Tilly (Corporate finance); Speechly Bircham (Legal); Intuitus (IT due diligence); Willis (Insurance due diligence); CappcoPartners (Strategic due diligence); Plural Strategy (Commercial due diligence); Catalysis Advisory (Management due diligence).
Company – Go4Venture (Corporate finance); Bond Dickinson (Legal).