XP ticketing raise

Ticketing platform XP has announced a $6.2 million raise. Photo Credit: Jessica Christian

Web3 ticketing platform XP has announced a $6.2 million raise and doubled down on plans “to build the most fulfilling ticketing experience for fans.”

The year-old ticket-resale marketplace unveiled the funding in a blog post as well as a formal release. Founded and led by former Grubhub exec Michael Saunders, XP says it “puts fans first with transparent, fair-market prices and tech-forward ticketing innovations.”

Now, the company has a cool $6.2 million at its disposal to continue expanding those innovations, among them an AI-powered price-comparison extension.

New York City-based Blockchange Ventures, which per its website backs “founders with visions as big and bold as the Blockchain itself,” led XP’s latest raise. Additionally, the round drew support from crypto-minded investment manager L1D and David Kalk’s Reflexive Capital.

Addressing his business’s raise, the XP head Saunders called out the many competitors operating in the evidently lucrative ticketing space.

“Buying tickets shouldn’t feel like you’re getting taken advantage of,” said Saunders, who’s also at the helm of Captain Labs, the Solana-focused tech studio behind XP.

“Fandom is an integral part of a person’s identity, and yet most platforms treat fans like transactions. We believe fans deserve better—and that starts with recognizing and rewarding fans’ loyalty and passion,” concluded Saunders, whose platform is said to boast “millions of dollars in annualized ticket sales.”

While there’s certainly something to be said for rewarding fans, logic suggests that lowering prices is the best way to stand out in the increasingly crowded live-entertainment arena. On this front, XP indicated that its model means customers can “save up to 30%…compared to the same seats listed on other resale marketplaces.”

As things stand, these resale marketplaces aren’t limited to well-entrenched players like Live Nation’s Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, the possibly-for-sale Vivid Seats, and StubHub.

Back in August 2024, TickPick scored a cool quarter of a billion dollars in funding, and the U.K.’s Seat Unique announced a close to $20 million extended Series A. Then, Amsterdam’s Celebratix in November pulled down about $1.2 million and emphasized a goal of bringing its blockchain tech to several international markets.

In other words, competition is fiercer than ever in ticketing, where regulatory scrutiny isn’t letting up. Most conspicuously, that refers to the DOJ’s apparently ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

But the same companies are also the subject of at least one government crackdown across the pond. Returning to the States, a DOJ inquiry into “unfair and anticompetitive” live/ticketing practices is in full swing, and not-so-subtle anonymous sources have pointed to a possible criminal antitrust probe targeting Live Nation and AEG alike.