Why We Invested: Project Admission
Event ticketing has a distribution problem. The problem is that there isn’t any distribution.
By contrast, if I want to buy a ticket for Seat 15A on JetBlue Flight 123, that exact ticket is simultaneously available via countless channels — not just JetBlue itself, but also Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia, etc and even travel agents. And that’s because the travel industry has figured out the distribution problem.
Project Admission is a platform that works directly with the live event industry to expand ticket distribution channels. Their tech enables partners to maximize ticket distribution via fully customizable branded storefronts for rights holders, venues, brands and influencers.
Coupled with powerful backend infrastructure, their partners now have unprecedented control over the distribution of their ticket inventory.
And Project Admission’s identity-based ticketing, fan engagement tools, social media integration, and commemorative NFT solutions create a modular full stack product suite that enables partners to create or recapture value across the entire ticket lifecycle:
- Discovery: Leverage brands, fans, influencers and aggregate data sources to unlock new audiences
- Pre-event: Create branded storefronts to enable social selling, upsells and transfers
- Event: Unlock in-venue seat upgrades and experiences
- Post-event: Generate post-event revenue opportunities via commemorative tickets and merchandise
At Anthemis, we’ve long looked at the ticketing industry as ripe for fintech innovation. At its core, a ticket is a financial instrument. It’s a store of value that appreciates and depreciates, that is traded on marketplaces or by brokers, and for which tracking custody is incredibly important.
The components of the ticketing industry mirror that of financial services. And yet there has been very little technology or learnings exported from finance to ticketing. We believe Project Admission is well positioned to facilitate exactly that type of “Embedded Finance” innovation.
We met the Project Admission team at an interesting time. They had just closed their pre-seed round when the world started shutting down because of Covid-19. It was a pivotal moment for a company whose business relied 100% on live events.
But Project Admission — led by a founding team with deep experience in ticketing and live events — used the shutdown to their advantage. They focused on building out the platform to address opportunities throughout the ticketing lifecycle and used the quiet period for ticket sellers, teams, and leagues to help them think about the future. As a result, when the world started opening up last year, they had deals in place with SeatGeek, Tickets.com, the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA, and the Minnesota United FC and Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer.
So it was an easy decision to lead their Seed round. We are very excited to support their next phase of growth, and lean into our financial services experience and ecosystem to unlock new opportunities and innovation in ticketing.
