Christopher BarrettPrivate equity firm Sixth Street has become the latest to make a huge investment in the live events industry, following KKR’s acquisition of Superstruct, Blackstone’s stake in the Ambassador Theatre Group and reports that London-based ticketing platform DICE is in advanced talks to sell a stake worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Via its Sixth Street Growth platform, Sixth Street has made a USD $130 million equity investment in atVenu; a live event commerce platform that is used at 125,000 events and processes more than $1.6 billion in merchandise and food and beverage volume annually.
Among atVenu’s clients are Coachella (pictured) and Ed Sheeran, and it is understood that it intends to use the investment to expand its international reach having recently began operating in the UK, Spain and Germany.
Founded in 2012, atVenu has offices in the US and Canada. It provides a purpose-built live event platform to touring artists, merchandisers, record labels, venue operators, festival promoters, and food & beverage operations. The platform provides services including inventory management, forecasting, multi-stakeholder financial settlements, and integrated point-of-sale which it says are designed to cater to the needs of “transient and pop-up commerce environments.
atVenu’s co-founder and president Ben Brannen said, “The firm’s vision and conviction on the growth opportunities in live events entirely aligns with ours. The opportunity to join forces with their team and deploy our combined resources to expand atVenu’s reach is incredibly exciting.”
Sixth Street partner and co-head of Sixth Street Growth Michael McGinn, “This investment reflects Sixth Street’s continued conviction in and commitment to the live events ecosystem.”