Fast Lane Ventures and ru-Net join forces to launch an exciting new project
Eventmag.ru, a brand new Russian internet based service designed for event promotion and online ticket sales, launches today. The seed financing for the site comes from the company’s operational and investment partner, Fast Lane Ventures, the leading Russian developer of internet companies, and investment fund ru-Net, who own a portfolio of around 30 projects throughout Russia, Europe, North America and Asia.
Eventmag.ru aims to attract a broad audience including event organisers and visitors who are interested in a wide range of events all over Russia. The major objective of the website is to bring both organisers and visitors together and facilitate a potentially prolific cooperation. The resource features a unique platform which can help to build an event of any scale or type, from a press-conference to a music festival, while also promoting the event itself to attract visitors.
Event organisers can use the site to register event visitors and, if required, to sell tickets to their event, free of charge. The organisers then pay a commission on every ticket sale. There are also promotional options available, which include advertising in social networks and direct mail within the database of registered users. Eventmag.ru provides visitors with a simple, one-stop tool where they can look for events, book and purchase tickets online.
Every user can register a personal account and act as both the organiser and the visitor. Users can then build or search events, share information with colleagues and friends, send out invitations through social media and sell or purchase tickets.
Ticket market volumes in Russia are constantly growing. According to Express-Obzor, a research database agency, the average growth rate of the market is 11 per cent per annum and more than 4 million concert tickets are sold in Russia every year. For Eventmag.ru it is expected that 25 per cent of the total sales will be for concert tickets whereas the remaining 75 per cent will comprise business events (conferences and exhibitions), educational classes (trainings, workshops and courses) and sport events. Several experts also forecast that each of these segments’ market volume could rise to $300-$400 million a year.
Natalia Atyasheva, CEO of Eventmag.ru, highlights the potential of this new online service as it is cross-functional and targets an unoccupied market segment on a national level. Natalia commented: “There are a large number of narrowly focused resources available in Russia, both in terms of interest and functionality, however these do not suit the mass events audience. Eventmag.ru addresses this issue as it suits any format and helps organisers plan events of any scale and level of complexity. As for visitors, the site provides an extremely convenient place for them to access information on a wide variety of available events rather than surf the internet for multiple sources.”
Marina Treshchova, CEO of Fast Lane Ventures, supports this view and adds: “When choosing a new business idea we look for, a model that has proved its popularity with the customers and investors, we analyse the capability of the local market and the level of competition in the specific segment. It’s these three criteria that ensure we have made the right choice. The future success of this business model is also supported by ru-Net, the leading investment holding in Russia, who has also joined the project at the seed stage.”
The whole amount of investment is several million US dollars.