North West ticketing platform Skiddle has secured its first external investment after 25 years in business.
Friends Ben Sebborn and Richard Dyer launched Skiddle in Preston in 2001 as a what’s on guide, but it has grown into one of the UK’s leading ticketing platforms.
In 2025, it generated £178m in face-value ticket sales across 180,000 listed events, with a 98 per cent promoter retention rate.
Revenue has grown by an average of more than 20 per cent a year over the past two years.
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The investment from Soho Square Capital is for a minority stake in the business and represents Skiddle’s first external funding since launching.
Sebborn, who is the CTO, said: “It’s been an exciting journey over the last 25 years. Even more excited to see what comes next.”
His co-founder Dyer described the funding news as ‘25 years in the making’.
The co-founders added: “Soho Square’s approach means we keep control of the business we’ve spent 25 years building, with the support to take it further.”
Joe Tebbutt, director at Soho Square, said: “This is exactly the kind of transaction Soho Square was built for: the founders stay in control of the business they built and fully committed to it, with the capital and support to pursue their plans for growth.”
Skiddle will use the investment to strengthen its technology, marketing and business development operations and expand into new European markets.
The business was born out of Sebborn and Dyer’s frustration at the lack of online information about the events they loved.
Both gig promoters and keen ravers, their passion for music events in the North of England and beyond formed the foundations of Skiddle, which quickly expanded across the UK and further afield.
In 2006, Skiddle began selling tickets with a commitment to making ticketing better.