Japanese Ticketer Raises $5M

Peatix, an online ticketing platform based in Japan, has announced that it raised $5 million in investment from various funds throughout Asia, including Singapore’s SPH Media Fund.

The startup’s total investments are now about $9 million. Founded in 2011, Peatix has sold more than 1.2 million tickets for 50,000 events in 26 countries. The number of tickets it sold in 2014 was double the number sold in 2013.

CEO Taku Harada told TechAsia that his company serves different market segments, making it difficult to compare it to similar ticketing organizations.

“Our main focus is independent community event organizers,” he said. The main purpose of the funding is to increase the platform’s advantage for mobile users. Peatix will be shipping a new iOS app within the next several weeks, with an Android version to follow.

“The new app will feature enhanced event discovery and search capabilities,” Harada told TechAsia. “Our platform features already contribute to bringing close to 15 percent more attendees to events, and we intend to bring this number higher.”