Eventful, the local events community, has been in the forefront of my mind lately. From incorporation into Sprint’s XOHM network to a recent advertising partnership with 1020 Placecast, the company seems to be quickly moving in a hugely profitable direction. But I had no idea they were moving so quickly.
Eventful has announced $10 million in Series C funding from Telefonica, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Bay Partners. The round will be used to expand Eventful’s sales and marketing, penetrate the mobile space and possibly to expand internationally. Says Jordan Glazier, Eventful’s CEO,
“This round of financing will enable Eventful to enhance our services to existing and new users throughout the world and achieve profitability. We’re pleased that DFJ and Bay Partners continue to share our vision of building a world-class company. Telefónica is an ideal partner with a great team and a global internet and mobile footprint. We look forward to working with Telefónica to explore opportunities which will cement our position as the leading local events service in the world.”
Eventful has already grown to a worldwide community of 8 million registered users that not only have access to its online local events database, but can also opt-in to receive relevant updates through syndicated methods like email. In fact Eventful currently send out over 40 million permission-based emails per month and enjoy another 100 million widget views. As further evidence of their relevance and reach, over 50, 000 performers, including the The All-American Rejects and Kate Voegele, use Eventful to keep their fans updated with appearance dates and locations.
This isn’t the only good news for Eventful though. They’ve also furthered their relationship with Ticketmaster who will now be the community’s premier ticketing provider. Although the financial terms haven’t been disclosed, it appears that both companies will feature the other prominently on their respective websites and Ticketmaster will feature more prominently in Eventful’s newsletters, which are locally targeted at each subscriber. Ticketmaster will also have access to Eventful’s demand service data so that the ticket company’s clients will be able to better provide the right performers, etc. at the locations with the highest demand. Definitely a great way to maximize ticket sales and profits for both companies. Both companies look like they will also share advertising inventory, but it should be said that Eventful will continue to work with other ticketing providers.
A big congrats to the San Diego, Califronia-based company!
