Dear Evopass Network,
Today, we are shutting down Evopass, and ending operations effective immediately.
Evopass began in November 2016 with the aim to tackle the ticketing industry head on — by eradicating touting, and bringing fairness and transparency to fans across the globe.
Over time, the team grew from three team members to seven, and processed hundreds of thousands of euro worth of tickets. Our business contacts were spread far and wide across Europe and North America, including negotiations with some of the largest acts in the world.
MARKET CHANGES
Originally releasing a digital app, Evopass expanded its offering to include an online platform. Adapting to market forces, the team discovered an opportunity in the secondary ticketing market and shifted focus to resale — providing fans with the best place to buy and sell tickets at face value.
There are some huge changes taking place in the ticketing industry at the moment, some of which we are proud to have been a part of. The market leaders are finally beginning to change their position, increasing the levels of transparency and adding more protections for fans.
Unfortunately, this means that the level of competition in the secondary market continues to grow, which has made it unsustainable to remain in operation. We are extremely proud of what we have built in such a short period of time, and we wouldn’t be where we are now without the monumental startup community here in Dublin.
MENTORSHIP
We would like to take this time to thank everyone who has been involved in the Ticketchain/Evopass story and journey. The support we have received over the past two years has been phenomenal and for that, we are extremely grateful.
From our roots at the Chainsmiths Hackathon in 2016 with the original Ticketchain team, we are very proud to have progressed through a series of entrepreneurship programmes since then. These include the wonderful staff and teams at Trinity College Dublin Launchbox, Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers, Google Adopt-a-Startup, and NDRC Pre-Accelerator and Launchpad.
Also, a huge thank you to our dedicated external mentors Pat, Akhil, John, and Lukasz. And to Helen and Dermot, whom we have worked closely with in the last six months, your expertise and approach to helping us was unparalleled and exceptionally enjoyable.
THE FUTURE
Most of all, the biggest thanks must go to the core team Geoff, Dean and Tadhg, with Anne joining in later months. All of your work was tireless and exemplary throughout and we were extremely fortunate to call you all teammates for the past year and a half. We are confident that we have learned a substantial amount from each other, which has developed our skills as individuals and will help us in further opportunities in the future.
For anyone interested in the potential of pursuing a startup opportunity please do get in contact with us. We would love to hear about any new ideas and try and help where possible, or connect you with someone who can. No matter how early you believe your idea is, we were all there at one point, and it doesn’t hurt to reach out!
Until next time,
Kevin Murray, Jake MccGwire & Zachary Diebold
