Technology Provider Glownet Announces £2m Funding Round & New CEO

London-based live events technology provider Glownet has secured a £2 million ($2.8 million) Series-A funding in anticipation of its U.S. expansion, and appointed a new CEO.

Ultra Miami – Ultra Miami
One of Glownet’s major clients

Glownet provides access control, cashless payments, crew management, social media activations, loyalty programs and customer insight solutions to music festivals and live events of various kinds, and claims to be the global market leader.

The company just delivered its 500th event, the 10,000-capacity Rhythm and Alps in New Zealand, Dec. 29-31. In 2018, the company already supplied major events like the New Zealand Sevens Rugby world series or the worldwide Ultra festivals, including the flagship in Miami, with cashless payment solutions, access control tools and business intelligence reports.

– Siebe Gerbranda
Glownet’s new CEO

Scott Witters founded Glownet five years ago, and led the company as CEO until now. His successor is Siebe Gerbranda, who joined the company as COO in August. 

“From the moment I joined Glownet last year, it was immediately clear that it has all the right ingredients for fast growth: an amazing team, very solid technology and a unique position in a growth industry. My task is both clear and challenging; enabling our team to drive aggressive expansion, in terms of both product and territory coverage,” he commented.

Witters said he would now devote his energy “to accelerating scaling in key strategic markets whilst continuing to curate the vision for our product as we lead the transformation of our industry.”

What is going to help with Witters’ plans is the latest Series-A funding round, led by Downing Ventures, which invests $2.8 million dollars in Glownet’s growth, a big part of which is going to be the planned U.S. expansion.

The investment company said event payment technology adoption is growing fast across the pond. “The Glownet team has achieved great things so far and our funding support should allow them to build on this success by furthering enhancing its technology and expanding into new major markets,” said James Lewis, investment director at Downing Ventures.

Said Witters: “[Downing Ventures] experience in disruptive technology businesses, as well as their established presence and network in our core markets make them our ideal partner for fast, sustainable growth. Their support will allow us to strengthen our commercial resources, invest in our core technology and make our products available to new verticals and markets.”

Glownet – The Glownet team
Celebrating its 500th event. Founder Scott Witters is on the bottom left