Earlier this month TimePad, a Moscow startup that offers e-ticketing services and other online tools for event organizers, secured an investment from Target Ventures. Since the acquisition of an initial stake earlier this year, the fund has injected $1 million in total into the startup.
Founded in 2008 with the help of HSE Inc., the business incubator of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, TimePad is an equivalent of Eventbrite or Armiando. Its functions include event publication and promotion through existing contacts and social networks, as well as online registration, ticket sales and attendee management.
In early 2012, the startup received an investment – which the Russian media reported to amount to $200,000 – from the Rambler & Co group (formerly known as the Afisha-Rambler-SUP group).
In January of this year, Target Ventures acquired the Rambler & Co’s 49% stake for an undisclosed amount.
The Russian e-ticketing market for events is growing fast. TimePad’s co-founder Lyudminla Pavlova has estimated its current value at $600 million and expects a five-fold growth through to 2016. The event ticketing market, including both online and offline ticketing, exceeds $4 billion, with a 19% yearly growth.
Competition is growing on the market with such notable startups as EventMag, Nanobilet and TicketForEvent, as well as a number of smaller players that do not always meet quality requirements.
EventMag was launched in 2012 by Fast Lane Ventures and Ru-Net. That same year, TicketForEvent raised $3 million from Dekarta Capital and Abele Ventures.
Such international players as Eventbrite, Xing Events and TicketScript are interested in the Russian market, as well as in neighboring countries like Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, TicketForEvent CEO Stanislav Birov said in an exchange with East-West Digital News.
“These markets are emerging with huge potential for growth. The share of tickets sold online reaches just 20-30%, compared to more than 90% in the USA and Western Europe. This gap will be decrease year after year.”
On the other hand, the current economic and political context in Russia and neighboring countries prevent international players from faster entry. In the future, however, “some international players will consider acquisitions” as the best way to penetrate these markets, Birov believes.
