Acquisition Enables Growth of New Zealand Ticketing Industry

Acquisition Enables Growth of New Zealand Ticketing Industry

The major acquisition of successful Wellington ticket agency, Dash Tickets, will give the New Zealand ticketing industry more market power both here and overseas, says entrepreneur Nick Schembri, co-founder of Dash Tickets.

Dash Tickets has been acquired by The Fortress Group (Fortress), owner of New Zealand’s largest Event Ticketing Agency, TicketDirect.

“The new partnership provides Dash Tickets with added resources to continue our rapid expansion and the critical mass to lower costs through economies of scale,” says Mr. Schembri.

“Our purchase of Dash Tickets is a great acquisition, we are bringing onboard a fantastic team along with a suite of ground-breaking new technology to broaden our scope in the market,” says Matthew Davey, CEO of TicketDirect and the Fortress Group.

Dash Tickets is the first company to graduate from the Creative HQ business incubator, establish itself commercially – including a team of 10 staff – and then be on-sold, a mark of Schembri’s business acumen and a cornerstone of Creative HQ’s vision.

"Dash Tickets has earned their reputation as a nimble and courageous business, successfully taking on bigger industry players. Creative HQ worked with the Dash founding team fresh out of university and this acquisition, the first for Creative HQ alumni, is another example of the Dash team taking their business to the next level,” says Acting Chief Executive of Creative HQ, Tui Te Hau.

Going forward, the intent is to stick with what has been working, with Dash Tickets’ name, brand, customers, staff and Wellington headquarters remaining the same.

“The only real change is the further resources that Fortress and TicketDirect can provide – when people engage with Dash Tickets they will experience the unique talents of the Wellington team but also benefit from the resources of the wider group of Fortress companies,” says Mr. Schembri.

The future growth of Dash Tickets could provide opportunities for more staff and significant overseas expansion.

“We are now in a position to compete with Australian and American ticket agencies that operate here, but whose profits go offshore to the respective companies,” says Mr Schembri.

Clients of Dash Tickets range from the Ellerslie International Flower Show, Homegrown Music Festival, Wellington Cricket and Auckland Seafood Festival.

Mr. Schembri will remain with Dash Tickets as the company’s Sales Executive. However, he intends to follow in the footsteps of other successful New Zealand entrepreneurs by seeking further start-up involvement.

“The biggest way to grow the New Zealand economy is through successful start-up companies,” says Mr. Schembri. “I enjoy the sense of achievement in meeting the challenges that come with establishing a company – and coming out the other end with success.”

Mr. Schembri established Dash Tickets with a colleague in 2008 whilst still a student at Victoria University. He developed his entrepreneurial skills as a Project Manager for the Defence Force before embarking on a career with St John Ambulance, where he continues to volunteer as an Ambulance Officer.

Who are Fortress and Ticket Direct?

The Fortress Group, under Fortress Information Systems Ltd., is a group of companies that specialise in developing and delivering advanced software solutions for the Events and Venues industry. Its holdings include TicketDirect, Dash Tickets, 1-night.co.nz and a diverse range of marketing and event services.

TicketDirect (TD) is New Zealand’s premier home-grown international event ticketing service, established in Dunedin in 1999 by Matthew Davey. Until that time, foreign ticketing providers gave little choice and flexibility to New Zealand's Venues, driving up the costs to Promoters and Customers alike - something had to change! TD exploded onto the Events scene with a revolutionary new approach to ticketing, giving Venues and Promoters the power to control their own ticket sales. Starting from a single Venue with Carisbrook and the Highlanders, TicketDirect has grown to hundreds of Venues, thousands of Events and selling millions of tickets in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji every year.

ENDS

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