Netherlands online event ticketing company Ticketscript BV and London based Trinity Mobile Ltd (mobile ticketing specialists) have merged, creating the largest supplier of self service online and mobile ticketing solutions in Europe.
Over the past few years the companies have together provided ticketing solutions for over 30,000 events. Operating under the name Ticketscript the company will focus on expanding internationally, and developing its innovative ticketing solutions. The merger coincides with a £2mm capital raise from existing shareholders, to fund the future growth of the business. Bond Pearce advised the Ticketscript shareholders.
Frans Jonker (33), CEO and co-founder, notes that Ticketscript, in 2006, was the first player to introduce e-ticketing successfully in the Dutch and German event industry: "The market is ready for the next step towards more innovative mobile ticketing. Ticketscript will now promote this, besides the UK, in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Spain and has the advantage of being an independent player in the ticketing market. Ticketscript provides the answer for building-up your own community around events via internet and mobile solutions. Ticketscript will continue to expand internationally and develop advanced internet and mobile technology for the event industry."
Sebastian Briggs, partner in our corporate finance team, who led the team working on the merger, which included Ronan Lowney (tax), said: "The merger provides a significant platform for Ticketscript to take advantage of international growth opportunities and we were delighted to be part of an exciting development for this market."
Frans Jonker says of Bond Pearce's role in the deal, "We are extremely pleased with the service that Bond Pearce provided to us. Sebastian and the team gave top rate advice, showed great commitment to us throughout the deal and were as pleasant as they were efficient in getting the job done."
Ticketscript, the European market leader in SaaS ticketing solutions, provides event organisers with a plug-and-play online ticket shop for the sale of e-tickets via the event's own website. This web application also provides access to the sales network of Free Record Shops and Van Leest branches in the Benelux countries. Since Ticketscript was founded in 2006, its online ticketing application has been used by over 1,500 event organisations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Ticketscript has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Antwerp and is active in the music event, music venue, festival, trade show and sports event sectors. Ticketscript was an Accenture Innovation Award runner-up and has been nominated for the Van Speijk Innovation Award in the Netherlands.
Trinity Mobile, established in 2003, is an industry leader in mobile ticketing and marketing. The company provides its customers and partners with advanced mobile ticketing and loyalty solutions. Trinity Mobile facilitates ticketing at a wide variety of live events such as clubs, festivals, West End theatre shows and sporting events and also supplies mobile tickets and boarding passes to a number of organisations in the transport sector including BMI and Austrian Airways. The team behind the company has over 50 years of experience in barcode encoding and decoding (scanning), point of sale (POS) integration, SMS & MMS messaging, and loyalty schemes gained with technology companies such as Symbol Technologies and Logica CMG.
The new merged company has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Antwerp, London and Manchester. Major events and venues supported by the company include Ministry of Sound and Gatecrasher in the UK, Awakenings Festival (dance festival in Spaarnwoude) as well as the Verzamelaarsjaarbeurs (Collectors' Annual Exhibition) and the baseball World Championship in the Netherlands, Stadt Strand Fluss in Germany, Rave on Snow in Austria and Pukema Rock in Belgium. Currently Ticketscript employs 35 people. In 2011 this will increase to 80 employees based in seven offices in Europe. The forecast gross ticket revenue for 2011 is Euro 70 million. Frans Jonker, co-founder of Ticketscript, will remain the company's CEO. Rob Clegg, co-founder of Trinity Mobile, will be COO.