Technology

Posted on May 10, 2018 by staff

Luke Massie buys Vibe Tickets out of administration

Technology

Vibe Tickets has entered administration with its founder Luke Massie buying the tech firm back from administrators.

The Lancaster-based business’ last funding round in October resulted in a raise of £600,000 – £400,000 of it from Vela Technologies – which enabled Vibe to expand its offering into new verticals, build up its user base and add to its headcount.

Vela, which owned a 5.1 per cent stake in Vibe, anticipated that a further fundraise from new and existing investors would bring in £1 million in the last six months, which would keep the firm going as it is pre-revenue.

During discussions, Vela said it became clear Vibe Tickets needed to restructure to secure interest from investors, and thus no money was raised, leading it to go into administration on Monday last week.

Since then, Vibe Tickets’ former chairman Luke Massie bought the firm from administrators. He has formed a new holding firm, Vibe Group Holdings Ltd, and Vela said it expects Vibe Group to buy 100 per cent of Vibe Tickets and Vibe Pay in the coming weeks.

Shares in Vela Technologies fell 11 per cent on Wednesday. However following a restructure it expects to invest a further £200,000 in Vibe for a minority stake in the new holding company.

“We have supported Luke Massie and Vibe Tickets since 2016. We saw the opportunity to support a business that was both highly disruptive and would enable ordinary fans of music and sport, who were being forced to pay excess fees on top of inflated prices, to benefit from a transparent social media platform to buy and sell tickets,” said Vela executive director Antony Laiker.

“Vibe has made strong headway reaching over 84,000 users and has generated over £7m of ticket volume, all with minimal marketing spend. Vibe Tickets is doing what it set out to do – disrupting the big players.”

He added: “Various financing routes for Vibe Tickets were explored. However, the corporate structure surrounding Vibe Tickets did not lend itself to securing further funding.

“Based on previous discussions with the management of Vibe Tickets, we anticipate that the ‘restructured’ Vibe business will provide the platform for Vibe to engage with parties who have expressed interest in supporting and growing the business further.”