Australian Entertainment Powerhouse Invests in Dash Tickets

Wellington-based technology company Dash Tickets has secured a significant capital investment from the founders of Australian entertainment powerhouse, Ministry of Sound Australia. The deal represents a significant milestone for Dash, as it plans expansion into Australia in early 2012.

“We’re extremely excited to be working with the team from Ministry of Sound. Their reputation in the entertainment industry is exceptional and a key part of our growth strategy was formalising our links in Australia,” said Dash Founder and CEO Nick Schembri.

Dash Tickets is a dynamic ticketing platform for event organisers and venues to manage event ticketing with a focus on customer experience and engagement. Over the past 2 years the company has sold 161,498 tickets for 769 events including the Christchurch Arts Festival, Sandwiches Venue, World Buskers Festival and Fabel Events.

Richard Mergler, Director of Ministry of Sound Australia commented, “Dash represents a great opportunity for us to expand our integrated approach to the entertainment industry as it now stands. We already have a successful mix of recordings, artist management, touring, events and music publishing, so event ticketing is a natural extension. We were very impressed with Dash and their underlying technology platform and we are looking forward to help take its evolution to the next step.”

The immediate focus of the Company will be to consolidate and strengthen its position in the New Zealand market, whilst developing its entry strategy for Australia in 2012. Simultaneously, the company will continue to develop its platform and services offering, including social media integration, account management and marketing add-ons.

A graduate of Creative HQ, Dash has greatly benefited from the structure, support and environment provided by the hi-tech business incubator over the past 2 years. . “Being a member of Creative HQ has provided a significant advantage to Dash, helping our team to build strong foundations for growth & investment” said Schembri.

Creative HQ CEO Steve O’Connor said, “Dash Tickets is one of the most dynamic startup ventures we have worked with, and this is a well-earned reward for the hard work they have put in. The company has grown fast in a tough market and overcome sizable challenges along the way. It’s hugely satisfying for Creative HQ to have worked with Nick to turn Dash into an award-winning business, and to see this partnership come together is a massive accolade and extremely promising for the company.”

About Dash Tickets
Winner of the 2010 Launchpad competition for best ICT Start-up in New Zealand, Dash Tickets is a technology company focused on providing web-based end-to-end ticketing solutions to event organisers, promoters and venues. Focusing on innovation and user experience, Wellington-based Dash’s revenues have grown exponentially since the company sold its first ticket in March 2009.

"Dash has transformed ticketing for us. Ticketing was once a cost centre for us with endless back and fro between us and the ticketing provider. Now it is a cost neutral service that is cheaper and easier for our customers, where we have complete control over our event listings and can make changes on our own terms, not someone else's. This is ticketing as I only dreamed it could be a few years ago."
Karyn South, Managing Director, Fabel Events

About Ministry of Sound Australia
Ministry of Sound Australia (MOS(A)) is the brand license owner of the famous UK entertainment brand. The business extends across multiple compilation and artist releases and has a high profile stable of artists and producers who release work under a number of labels owned or operated by MOS(A) Pty Ltd.

The company also has a large touring and events business that manages over two hundred club nights per year across the country. Complementing this is an artist management division that looks after a number of high profile DJ’s and singer/groups.

The two owners of the company also have interests in other businesses including Mirror Image Access Pty Ltd (MIA), the leading mobile services company in Australia. MIA runs the mobile music services for Telstra, Optus, Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile in Australia as well as a large number of mobile content and marketing services.

ENDS

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