Seatwave, a British online marketplace for music fans to buy and sell second-hand concert tickets, has received an $8 million second round from original Skype and Piczo financiers Mangrove, German private investor Oliver Jung and Atlas Venture. Mark Tluszcz, co-founder and managing partner at Mangrove, will join the Seatwave board.
Founded in February by Joe Cohen, formerly of Ticketmaster in Europe, London-based Seatwave raised $3 million first-round funding from Atlas Venture in May 2006. The U.K. space for “secondary tickets” is growing now, with the earlier launch of Viagogo, after eBay’s January acquisition in the U.S. of StubHub for $310 million.
The secondary tickets market is thriving thanks to UK’s gigs and growing festival scene but, while many rely on eBay for off-loading and finding tickets, there is plenty of concern (and possible new legislation) on how scalpers use the net as well as over exorbitant auction prices. But Seatwave, which says it is the U.K.’s largest such site, claims to be super-compliant with national law. According to the company, Seatwave has had more than 400,000 tickets on sale since a soft launch last December, 20 times as many as available on eBay. The investment will be used to grow the staff and to expand across Europe. Atlas’ Fred Destin has more on his blog.