A tech entrepreneur who has won praise from Richard Branson is preparing to embark on the next round of funding.
Luke Massie, 23, founded Lancashire-based ticketing business Vibe Tickets in 2013 to allow real fans to buy and sell tickets but also make new like-minded friends at the biggest events.
Massie recently made it to the final three in the #VOOM 2016 Virgin Media competition, and spent the day at the Virgin founder’s house, meeting his team of experts and associates.
Now he’s been preparing to make 10 per cent of the business available to investors on Crowdcube, including fans, followers, friends and venture capitalists.
Vibe has already raised over £400,000 – including £200,000 from technology entrepreneur Matt Newing – but Massie said the next round of funding would take the business to the “next level”.
“Vibe Tickets has 148,000 followers on Twitter from around the world so Crowdcube is a great way for us to raise our next investment,” he said.
“We’re a fan-to-fan business and now real fans can invest in a genuine, ethical ticketing platform.
“It’s a great opportunity for anyone who shares our passion to get involved and be part of something so exciting and disruptive in the market.
“We haven’t even launched it yet but there’s been an unbelievable amount of interest.”
Massie, who has been confirmed as a speaker at BusinessCloud’s ‘meet the disrupters’ event in September, said spending time with Branson was a life-changing experience.
“Not only did I get the chance to pitch to someone of the stature of Sir Richard but I got through to the last three and received the sort of advice that money can’t buy,” he said.
“However I can’t be complacent so it’s for me to make my own name and the next level of funding will enable us to do that.
“People will be able to invest from as little as £10, so watch this space.”
Vibe is about to launch the latest version of their iOS app which hosts a variety of new features, as well as new profile management and a bespoke chat platform, built by their team of in-house developers.