Eventbrite is an American

event management Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. ...

and ticketing website. The service allows users to browse, create, and promote local events. The service charges a fee to event organizers in exchange for online ticketing services, unless the event is free. Launched in 2006 and headquartered in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, Eventbrite opened their first international office in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 2012. The company has local offices in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Mendoza,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. The company went public on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

on September 20, 2018 under the ticker symbol EB.

History

Eventbrite was founded in 2006 by

Kevin Hartz Kevin Hartz is an American businessman in the technology industry. He is the co-founder of Xoom, of which he was the CEO from 2001 to 2005. Biography Hartz was born in Berkeley, California, and raised in Orinda, California. His high school was ...

(Co-Founder and Executive Chairman) and

Julia Hartz Julia Hartz (November 20, 1979) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and the co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, a global ticketing and event technology platform. She is known for her leadership of Eventbrite during the COVID-19 pandemic and empow ...

(Co-Founder and CEO) and Renaud Visage (Co-Founder and CTO). The company was the first major player in this market in the US. Prior to his position at the company,

was involved with

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

and was the Co-Founder and CEO of

Xoom Corporation Xoom Corporation (also known as Xoom, a PayPal Service) is an electronic funds transfer or remittance provider that allows consumers to send money, pay bills and reload mobile phones from the United States and Canada to 131 countries. History X ...

, an international money transfer company. Julia Hartz, wife of Kevin, was raised in

Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a p ...

. After studying broadcasting at Pepperdine University, she became a creative executive at

FX Network FX is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content unit of The Walt Disney Company. It is based at the Fox Studios lot in Century City, California. FX originally launc ...

in Los Angeles. Soon after the two became engaged, she moved to the Bay Area and helped co-found Eventbrite. On March 18, 2011 Eventbrite raised $50 million in Series E Financing led by

Tiger Global Tiger Global Management, LLC (often referred to as Tiger Global and formerly known as Tiger Technology) is an American investment firm. It mainly focuses on Internet, software, consumer, and financial technology industries. Background and histo ...

. On April 22, 2013, Eventbrite raised another $60 million in growth capital financing led by Tiger Global, and including T. Rowe Price. On March 13, 2014, Eventbrite raised a private equity round of $60 million, and on September 1, 2017, the company raised $134 million in a Series G funding round. This brought their total funding to $334 million. Previous funding involved firms including

Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...

DAG Ventures DAG Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. DAG Ventures works with startups in providing early stage and growth stage funding. Since its founding in 2004, by Tom Goodrich and John Cadeddu, the firm has backed ...

and

Tenaya Capital Tenaya Capital is a venture capital firm with offices in Portola Valley, California, and Wellesley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1995 as Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Tenaya spun out to become an independent firm in 2009 following Lehman's bankr ...

. In 2016, Julia became the CEO of Eventbrite, while Kevin took the role of executive chairman. In March 2017, Eventbrite purchased D.C.-based event tech startup Nvite for an undisclosed sum. On June 9, 2017 Eventbrite purchased

Ticketfly Ticketfly was a ticket distribution service started in 2008 in San Francisco, California. Andrew Dreskin, CEO of Ticketfly, previously co-founded the company Ticketweb, which is now owned by Ticketmaster. Ticketfly grossed $500 million in 2013, ...

from

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: , derived from , ''pān'', i.e. "all" and , ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hes ...

for $200 million. The acquisition was meant to strengthen Eventbrite's position in the live music market, but according to observers, executives were still struggling to integrate Ticketfly as of 2019. In April 2018, Eventbrite acquired the Spanish ticketing service Ticketea, citing its events discovery platform and "robust ecosystem of third-party integrations" as being advantageous. Later that month, Eventbrite was subjected to criticism over an update to its merchants' agreement, which specified that the service had the right to attend and record footage of any aspect of an event for any purpose, and that event organizers were "responsible for obtaining, at your own cost, all third party permissions, clearances, and licenses necessary to secure Eventbrite the permissions and rights

o do so O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

" Following public backlash, Eventbrite chose to remove the passage entirely. The company stated that it wanted the option to "work with individual organizers to secure video and photos at their events for marketing and promotional purposes", but admitted that the clauses were too broadly-worded. In August 2018,

Picatic Picatic was an online ticketing company. Picatic's crowd-funding platform for event ticket sales allowed promoters to create event pages to generate funding before events are booked. Picatic is known for creating ticketing and registration solut ...

, a Vancouver-based ticketing and event registration platform, was acquired by Eventbrite. In April 2020, during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

which was causing a drastic drop in in-person events, Eventbrite laid off around 45% of its employees, which at that point numbered between 1,000 and 1,100. Reportedly, online events had amounted to less than 10% of the company's revenue in 2019. In November 2020, the company acquired ToneDen, a social media marketing service based in Los Angeles.

Funding

On March 18, 2011, Eventbrite raised $50 million in Series E Financing led by

. On April 22, 2013, Eventbrite raised another $60 million in growth capital financing led by Tiger Global, and including T. Rowe Price. On August 23, 2018, the company filed for a $200 million IPO. The company's biggest shareholder is

Tiger Global Management Tiger Global Management, LLC (often referred to as Tiger Global and formerly known as Tiger Technology) is an American investment firm. It mainly focuses on Internet, software, consumer, and financial technology industries. Background and histo ...

with

and the Hartzs also owning significant shares.

Customer satisfaction

The Trustpilot rating for the UK is just 1.3, revealing a high level of customer dissatisfaction, and there are multiple allegations of poor business practice.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ticket sales companies Event management companies of the United States Social planning websites Internet properties established in 2006 2006 establishments in California Entertainment companies established in 2006 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2018 initial public offerings Companies based in San Francisco