Ticketfly Acquires Northern Tickets to Expand Business in Canada

Deal brings Ticketfly's Canadian reach to more than 120 partners; company announces $1B in gross ticket sales

SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2015 /CNW/ -- Today, Ticketfly announced the acquisition of Northern Tickets, the in-house ticketing service of The MRG Group, which owns, operates, and manages premier music venues and events (in addition to restaurants and bars) across Canada.

This deal accelerates Ticketfly's North American growth, adding several prestigious Canadian venues to its growing roster. As terms of the deal, Ticketfly will become the ticketing and technology platform for some of the most legendary venues and events in Canada, including the Vogue Theatre, a historic 1300-capacity room in downtown Vancouver; the brand new Adelaide Hall, a 500-capacity room in Toronto; and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, which attracts nearly half a million visitors every year. 

Today's announcement follows a banner year for Ticketfly. In 2014, Ticketfly reached $1 billion in cumulative gross ticket sales since selling its first ticket in 2009—$500 million of which was processed in 2014 (42 percent year-over-year growth). Last year, the company sold 16 million tickets, helping it achieve 38 percent year-over-year growth in tickets sold. 

"Acquiring Northern Tickets and adding The MRG Group—owner and operator of legendary venues including Vancouver's Vogue Theatre—to our client roster marks another momentous day in Ticketfly's history. We are delighted to welcome them to the family," said Andrew Dreskin, co-founder and CEO of Ticketfly. "We've seen tremendous growth in Canada since launching there a couple years ago, with ticket sales up 80 percent year-over-year in 2014 alone. We've become the go-to solution for independent venues and promoters across Canada, and we believe that this transaction signals continued growth for us there."

"What we saw in Ticketfly was not only world class technology, but world class people with a shared belief in delivering the best experiences for fans," said Matt Gibbons, president of The MRG Group. "This is a merger of two great teams that will benefit immensely from one another. By partnering with Ticketfly, which offers the best integrated technology platform for live events, we at The MRG Group can focus on what we do best: providing exceptional hospitality."

Ticketfly launched Canadian operations in 2013, and the company now partners with more than 120 venues and promoters across the country. It also acquired regional ticketing company Prime Box Office. In 2014, the company saw 70 percent year-over-year growth for number of tickets sold in Canada, and 80 percent year-over-year growth for gross ticket sales.

"Our business in Canada is booming," said Bruce Morrison, GM, Ticketfly Canada. "We started operations in Canada with three of the leading independent promoters in the country, and have only grown from there. Union Events, Collective Concerts, Inertia Entertainment, Atomique Productions—now The MRG Group with the Vogue Theatre and Adelaide Hall—the list of amazing partners goes on. We're proud to have become the go-to choice for independent venues and promoters in Canada who share Ticketfly's vision of creating the best experience for fans of live events." 

About Ticketfly:
Ticketfly is a cutting-edge technology company reimagining the live event experience for promoters and fans. Its powerful ticketing, digital marketing and analytics tools help promoters book top talent, sell more tickets and increase in-venue revenue, while its consumer tools help connect fans to their best night (or day) out, from one tap purchases to sharing with friends. Since its founding in 2008, Ticketfly has regularly launched disruptive products, including the first integrated ticketing, marketing and analytics platform and the first customer analytics suite. Ticketfly is led by Andrew Dreskin—co-founder of TicketWeb, the first company to ever sell tickets online—and some of the ticketing industry's most successful veterans, as well as executives from innovative and influential technology companies like Amazon and PayPal. Over 1,100 leading venues and promoters have partnered with Ticketfly to power their events, including Merriweather Post Pavilion, the Brooklyn Bowl, the Preakness Stakes and Burning Man. Ticketfly partners with more of Pollstar's top 200 independent clubs in the US and Canada than any other ticketing provider. In 2014, the Company processed 16M tickets, valued at roughly $500M, for 90,000 events throughout North America. In 2015, Ticketfly was named one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies in Music."

To discover and purchase tickets to events in your area, visit http://www.ticketfly.com. For more information on Ticketfly, visit start.ticketfly.com or follow the company on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

SOURCE Ticketfly

Sarah Spitz, [email protected], 347-382-9731, http://www.ticketfly.com