The investment takes the form of a convertible loan and brings its fundraising total up to €14m, when added to the previous five rounds of funding the company has gone through so far.
The latest round was led by previous backer, venture capital firm Active Venture Partners, along with French investor Fabrice Grinda, who has over 150 investments across the world, and IG Expansion Business Development’s José Marín. The two angel investors have led the group using crowdfunding platform AngelList – dedicated solely to promoting investments in tech startups. Active Venture Partners focuses on tech startups across Europe, working across Spain, Germany and Scandinavia. Operating from its Spanish base, Ticketbis then moved into new territories from 2010 onwards – first moving into the European and Latin American markets, before tackling the US and Russia. It now operates in over 30 countries, and has over 350 employees.
Read more on angel investment: Jon Uriarte, CEO and co-founder of Ticketbis said that the new round will be used for a targeted approach, with specific plans for further expansion too. “This latest round will be split between three main objectives: improving the quality of service, bolstering presence in new markets in Asia, and mobile innovation,” he said. The technology business has also announced improving revenue. Ticketbis’ turnover for the first quarter of 2015 was double that of the corresponding period for last year, taking the company ahead of its sales forecast for the year – though figures were not disclosed. Ticketbis has seen steady development since its inception. It raised €400,000 in 2009 through its first funding round to begin development. This was followed by further rounds of €1m in 2011, €900,000 in 2012, €3.5m in 2013 and then over €5m last year. While the funding received by Ticketbis is higher than Spain’s national average, the company also pointed to research by Startupxplore, indicating that the country is now showing signs of recovery. Spain had been hit hard by the credit crisis in 2008, but this study found evidence of increased investment in the country’s startups. During the last quarter of 2014, Spanish technology startups raised a total of €77m, averaging €1.83m per round. This was four times higher than the total collected in the same period for 2013.
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