Venture capital investor Beringea leads $10.5m funding round for online platform Festicket

Online booking platform Festicket has raised $10.5m (£8m) from a series d funding round led by transatlantic venture capital firm Beringea.

Other partners in the round include mobility and travel specialist InMotion Ventures, Channel 4’s commercial growth fund, Lepe Partners, U-Start and former Spinnin’ Records chief executive Eelko Van Kooten.

Beringea's investment director Eyal Malinger will join the Festicket board along with voucher company Treatwell's chief operating officer Ben Leaver. Festicket is currently searching for a new independent non-executive chairman to sit on the board.

Festicket already counts David Geutta's manager Jean-Charles Carré and former Booking.com co-founder Arthur Kosten as investors.

In an earlier funding round it raised $13.7m from investors including Lepe Partners, PROfounders, U-start, Playfair, Wellington and Windcrest.

Festicket chief executive and co-founder Zack Sabban said: “With this new investment we will be able to accelerate the expansion of our unique business model internationally and to more verticals. Our success so far has been driven by our focus on content, community and commerce, so we will use the same ingredients to become the go-to global brand for live event experiences.”

Malinger added: “Beringea’s investment in Festicket is underpinned by a fundamental shift in global consumer habits. Unprecedented demand – particularly among millennial consumers – for experiences over material possessions has fuelled the meteoric rise of ‘festival tourism’. Festicket sits at the epicentre of this trend and, as Europe’s largest vendor of festival travel and tickets, it has enabled millions of people to uncover new music, culture, and experiences."

Festicket has over 2.5m registered users and offices in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Porto and San Francisco.