Earlier this month, Radario.ru, a St. Petersburg-based e-ticketing service for music and entertainment events, closed a $1.2 million investment deal with undisclosed investors in its second round of funding, bringing its total investment since inception to $1.4 million.
Daria Semenova, a spokesperson for Radario, explained to East-West Digital News that the startup’s post-investment valuation is now estimated to be around $3 million.
She opted not to disclose the investors’ names, saying only that “one is from Russia, and one is from the U.S.”
The Radario team will use the investment to beef up its distribution network and upgrade its existing iOS- and Android-powered mobile apps in pursuit of the fairly ambitious goal of changing the very “format of the ticket market.”
In its bid to do so, Radario has come up with technology solutions enabling event managers to sell electronic tickets all on their own – without the need to tap ticket aggregators, which inflates prices.
Radario’s new applications for social networks make it possible for any relevant user groups and communities to launch their own ticket sales. The company is also introducing widgets to enable sales on web pages and blogging platforms.
Earler this year, Moscow-based Ponominalu.ru, a major online provider of show tickets, secured $1.5 million from Russian fund Buran Venture Capital.
Russia’s electronic ticketing market is in its very early stage, Alexander Veisov, a Buran investment analyst, conceded in an exchange with the Russian business daily Vedomosti. Some market operators do not want to invest in special equipment to enable e-ticketing, while others are simply unaware of the technology. Sector analysts reckon that even in Moscow, the most sophisticated market for performances and other live events in Russia, electronic tickets currently account for no more than 5% of total ticket sales.
