Eventbrite sees $600M in ticket sales in 2012

Eventbrite nearly doubles ticket sales from 2011

2012 was a big year for Eventbrite. The online ticket sales company announced Thursday that gross ticket sales for 2012 reached $600 million—nearly double that of 2011.

The news comes after the company announced back in June that it had sold a cumulative $1 billion in tickets since its launch in 2006. That speaks to some pretty impressive growth—which could be due in part to the March release of its “At the Door” iPad app, which allows last-minute attendees pay on the spot with their card using a card swiper that can be plugged into the iPad.

Eventbrite has been on a steady upward trajectory over the last several years. It sold 36 million tickets altogether in 2012, compared to 20 million in 2011 and 11 million in 2010. In 2011, ticket sales reached $360 million, and in 2010 they were $207 million.

Additionally, the company says there were 1.8 million downloads of its apps in 2012. 

And the company now has 211 employees, up from a team of just three when it was founded.

Some other interesting stats: of the 36 million tickets sold last year, 1.2 million were for political events. Now supporting seven languages and offering a localized product in 14 countries, events using Eventbrite were held in 179 countries last year, and 3.16 million tickets were scanned using the Eventbrite Entry Manager app. Additionally, Eventbrite was used at over 3,900 high school reunions, and over 412,000 bought tickets through Eventbrite to beer festivals.

Eventbrite generates revenue by charging 2.5% plus $1 per ticket sold.  Additionally, the company says, when an event attendee shares an event on Facebook, it generates on average another $2.52 in ticket sales for the organizer. 

Over the last six years, the company has expanded to some 200 employees from a team of just three people.  It has also raised $78.1 million from Sequoia Capital, Tenaya Capital, Tiger Global Management, DAG Ventures, and European Founders Fund.

Image source: wordpress.com