Lancashire-based disruptive ticketing platform Vibe Tickets has smashed its £600,000 crowdfunding target.
The firm made headlines when tech entrepreneur Scott Fletcher invested into it in August.
Founder Luke Massie told BusinessCloud that a “PLC investor” got the three-year-old firm over the line with one day left of the funding period on Crowdcube.
“To set a target of £600k and pull it off is incredible. It shows other firms in the North West what is possible,” he said.
“We’ve been talking for a while about how difficult it is to raise money through crowdfunding. Vibe is one of the few firms which has managed to do it successfully.
“An investment firm got us over the line, but I can’t say who they are yet because they are a public limited company.”
Vibe Tickets allows real fans to buy and sell tickets but also make new like-minded friends at the biggest events.
Massie raised £310,000 in the first 24 hours after launching on Crowdcube, including £260k from serial investor Fletcher.
The founder and chairman of specialist private cloud and managed services provider ANS has also recently invested six figure sums into Manchester Agency Digital Next and Jonny Cadden’s Business Rocks event in the city.
Raising the following £300,000 – the total stands at £607k ahead of Wednesday night’s 11.59pm deadline – was anything but easy.
“At the beginning I was let down by a couple of people who were keen to invest £100k each,” added Massie.
“Of the 300 investors we have, only 60 have come through Crowdcube. The rest, more than £500k, has come from our users and investors – people we have approached directly.
“We’ve still got a few hours. Hopefully we’ll hit £620k.”
Speaking to BusinessCloud last month, Fletcher said: “Luke is a force of nature. His vision and passion is infectious and goes to show that age is irrelevant when it comes to business.
“He’s been praised by Sir Richard Branson after making it to the final three in the #VOOM 2016 Virgin Media competition but he’s hungry to learn more.
“Vibe Tickets has the potential to disrupt the industry and that really appeals to me. I’ve got no doubt Luke will smash his £600,000 target but I think it’s vital that tech entrepreneurs like me get behind great businesses and great people.”
Massie will be speaking at BusinessCloud’s ‘meet the disrupters’ event in Manchester on Thursday September 15th. Book your free place here.
More than 10 per cent of his business has been made available through the crowdfunding run. He has valued his business at £6m.
Prior to crowdfunding, Vibe had already raised over £400,000 – including £200,000 from technology entrepreneur Matt Newing – but Massie said the present round of funding would take the business to the “next level”.
“The priority is to recruit developers,” he told BusinessCloud. “It is really difficult to find skilled developers in the North West due to the talent gap.
“Hopefully this high-profile funding round will attract talent and allow us to build the company up further.
“Next up will be what I am calling our ‘official round one’ of funding, where I hope to raise a couple of million pounds.”