Like the U.S., Japan has a ticketing problem. Big incumbents keep independent event producers from managing ticket sales and growing their events. In the same way that Eventbrite helped to provide more efficient options for event organizers to get the word out and sell tickets in the U.S., PeaTiX is offering up a similar platform for managing event promotion online in Japan. And it’s raised a bit of cash to do so.
PeaTiX just closed $1 million in seed funding from a number of investors, including 500 Startups, DG Incubation, Itochu Technology Ventures, and SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg.
PeaTiX founders Taku Harada and Emi Takemura knew each other from Amazon. But their collaboration mostly began as a way to bring popular U.S. applications to the Japanese market. They got exclusive licenses for Bit.ly and SurveyMonkey and made them available in Japan, handling operations for those apps there. With PeaTiX, they’re rolling out their own service to the market, hoping to disrupt the local ticketing business with an easy-to-use platform for event management.
The PeaTiX platform is designed to give organizers the tools to create, promote, and manage all their events, while also providing a way for attendees to socialize. Since going live in May 2011, more than 2,500 events have been managed on the platform, including sporting events, concerts, and seminars.
Harada told me that the new funding will be used mostly to increase its mobile presence. According to him, about 30 percent of all tickets sold happen on mobile devices, and he expects that to increase even further. The company is also looking to expand its product to other Asian countries.
PeaTiX has 20 employees based in Tokyo. The company had previously raised $615,000 in January from 500 Startups, DFJ JAIC, Sunbridge Startups, and ZenShin Capital, with its founders kicking in a little money as well.