Sole investor Sixth Street Growth also participated in Clio’s $1.24-billion CAD Series F round earlier this year.
Calgary and California-based live events e-commerce startup atVenu has closed $130 million USD ($178.6 million CAD) in equity financing from San Francisco-based Sixth Street Growth.
Michael McGinn, partner and co-head of Sixth Street Growth, told Fortune the all-equity deal, which closed earlier this month, gives the private equity firm a “meaningful stake” in atVenu.
“Ben, Derek, and James have built a world-class platform and organization with unrivalled dedication to their customers.”
Michael McGinn
Derek Ball, CEO and co-founder of atVenu, declined to specify the size of the stake acquired by Sixth Street to BetaKit, nor did he disclose whether it constituted a majority or minority position. On its website, Sixth Street Growth says it engages in both minority and majority recapitalizations.
“I can confirm that all employees and founders continue to hold significant equity going forward,” Ball told BetaKit.
Ball also confirmed that some early angel investors exited their positions through the transaction, but declined to disclose the amount of secondary capital involved in the deal.
Founded in 2012, atVenu offers a platform designed to streamline sales and inventory management for live events. The platform covers merchandise, food, concessions, bars, and sports retail sales at events like concerts, festivals, and pop-ups, but it does not cover actual ticket sales.
The startup’s features are designed to support event organizers by simplifying point-of-sale transactions, managing inventory, and providing real-time reporting, making it easier to track sales, manage staff, and settle with venues efficiently. atVenu says it processes over $1.6 billion in merchandise and food and beverage volume each year, and that its software is used at over 125,000 events annually.
Dually headquartered in Calgary and San Clemente, California, atVenu was founded by Canadian CEO Derek Ball, who studied at the University of Calgary; Canadian CTO James Seigel, who is based in atVenu’s Calgary office; and president Ben Brannen, who has spent more than a decade working in the music industry.
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atVenu has been dual-headquartered since inception, according to Ball. “Ben and I are based in California, and James is based in Calgary, so it made sense to build teams in both places,” he said.
In addition to Seigel, the startup’s leadership team includes several other Canadians, such as Andy Hiew, vice president of engineering, Mike Wong, vice president of product, Gerald St. Pierre, head of compliance and enterprise risk, and Michelle Williams, head of talent and human resources relations.
atVenu’s first institutional investor was Québec early-stage venture firm Real Ventures, which made an initial $1.1-million investment in 2014 and sold its stake in the company in 2023, according to a report in CVCA Central.
“We had ridden the VC wave with atVenu and began to realize that the business had effectively evolved into a private equity play,” Real Ventures managing partner John Stokes told CVCA Central earlier this year.
atVenu’s clients over the years have included Ed Sheeran, Coachella, and Drake. The startup launched its first Canadian venue, Place Bell, in Laval, Québec, in 2021. In a statement announcing the latest investment, atVenu claimed that its customers have seen more than a 20 percent increase in revenue compared to using standard point-of-sale systems.
“Over the past decade, atVenu has been intensely focused on helping our customers execute successful and profitable events,” Ball said in the statement. “Sixth Street clearly shares this mission and clarity of purpose and will add tremendous value as our impact on this industry continues to accelerate.”
Its most recent investor is also no stranger to investing in Canadian-led businesses. Earlier this year, it participated in Vancouver-based Clio’s $1.24-billion CAD Series F round, which the legaltech company closed at more than $4-billion CAD valuation.
Ball declined to provide specifics on what the new funding will be used for, but noted the company plans on fuelling their ongoing international growth and expansion into new markets like sports and special live events. In 2019, the Vegas Golden Knights, became the first sports team to use atVenu for game day merchandise sales.
“Ben, Derek, and James have built a world-class platform and organization with unrivaled dedication to their customers, and we’re thrilled to support them in continuing to build the market leader in live event commerce,” McGinn said in a statement. “This investment reflects Sixth Street’s continued conviction in and commitment to the live events ecosystem.”
Feature image courtesy of Unsplash. Photo by Andre Benz.
