Ticketing platform XP has announced a $6.2 million raise. Photo Credit: Jessica Christian
The year-old ticket-resale marketplace unveiled the funding in a blog post as well as a formal release. Founded and led by former Grubhub exec Michael Saunders, XP says it puts fans first with transparent, fair-market prices and tech-forward ticketing innovations.
Now, the company has a cool $6.2 million at its disposal to continue expanding those innovations, among them an AI-powered price-comparison extension.
New York City-based Blockchange Ventures, which per its website backs founders with visions as big and bold as the Blockchain itself, led XPs latest raise. Additionally, the round drew support from crypto-minded investment manager L1D and David Kalks Reflexive Capital.
Addressing his businesss raise, the XP head Saunders called out the many competitors operating in the evidently lucrative ticketing space.
Buying tickets shouldnt feel like youre getting taken advantage of, said Saunders, whos also at the helm of Captain Labs, the Solana-focused tech studio behind XP.
Fandom is an integral part of a persons identity, and yet most platforms treat fans like transactions. We believe fans deserve betterand that starts with recognizing and rewarding fans loyalty and passion, concluded Saunders, whose platform is said to boast millions of dollars in annualized ticket sales.
While theres certainly something to be said for rewarding fans, logic suggests that lowering prices is the best way to stand out in the increasingly crowded live-entertainment arena. On this front, XP indicated that its model means customers can save up to 30%&compared to the same seats listed on other resale marketplaces.
As things stand, these resale marketplaces arent limited to well-entrenched players like Live Nations Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, the possibly-for-sale Vivid Seats, and StubHub.
Back in August 2024, TickPick scored a cool quarter of a billion dollars in funding, and the U.K.s Seat Unique announced a close to $20 million extended Series A. Then, Amsterdams Celebratix in November pulled down about $1.2 million and emphasized a goal of bringing its blockchain tech to several international markets.
In other words, competition is fiercer than ever in ticketing, where regulatory scrutiny isnt letting up. Most conspicuously, that refers to the DOJs apparently ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
But the same companies are also the subject of at least one government crackdown across the pond. Returning to the States, a DOJ inquiry into unfair and anticompetitive live/ticketing practices is in full swing, and not-so-subtle anonymous sources have pointed to a possible criminal antitrust probe targeting Live Nation and AEG alike.
