Christopher BarrettCashless event services veteran Steve Jenner has left his role as festival partnerships director at Weezevent to co-found MetaFests – a blockchain and NFT specialist services operation focused on the festival industry.
Jenner was MD at PlayPass before it merged with Weezevent in 2020. He spent a decade pushing RFID cashless wristband technology into the festival market, and prior to departing Weezevent its cashless clients included Boomtown, Standon Calling, Black Deer, 2000Trees, ArcTangent and Smoked & Uncut.
Explaining the move Jenner said, “Coachella’s toes-in-the-water NFT drop success, followed by my own conversations with several prominent UK and European festival organisers, inspired me to make these new channels accessible to any event, regardless of size, genre or location. MetaFests will provide a full turnkey solution for festivals to immediately start harnessing significant new NFT revenue opportunities.
“It’s tough out there; many festivals are in serious need of more revenue right now, and I realised that I could give them a solution that could help them not only survive but thrive as the industry transitions with the rest of the world into the Web3 age. My goal for MetaFests is to provide a vehicle for festivals to make this transition with the minimum disruption and maximum gain.”
Jenner said he has assembled a team of festival and Web3 experts, with MetaFests currently in technical production and its first products set to launch in August.