Ticketmaster, the US ticket marketplace owned by Live Nation Entertainment, is acquiring Quicket, a South African-based general admission event and festival ticketing platform, to further support the rapidly growing live events market across the continent.
Launched in 2022, Ticketmaster serves some of South Africa’s leading festivals, sports, music, theatre, and venue clients. The deal will give it access to Quicket’s self-service platform and event organizer tools, for use for events of all sizes, from small clubs to large festivals and stadiums.
According to Mark Yovich, President, Ticketmaster said: “Africa is home to some of the most passionate fans in the world who we have the privilege of connecting to the events they love, simply and securely. Our commitment to delivering top-tier tools for promoters, venues, and artists is unwavering. Partnering with Quicket will supercharge our mission to elevate Africa’s dynamic live events to the global spotlight they truly deserve. Together, we are igniting a new era of unparalleled growth for African entertainment.”
Quicket was founded in 2011 in South Africa as a truly scalable pan-African self-service ticketing platform. It allows anyone organising events of all shapes and sizes to deliver a world class ticketing experience to their audience, wherever they may be on the continent. Since 2011 the company has built a robust and fully featured ticketing platform to service the South African and broader African markets, empowering creators to bring awesome experiences to life.
Quicket has operations in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and Botswana and the acquisition will allow more African venues, artists, and promoters to benefit from Quicket’s regional expertise and Ticketmaster’s global reach and service and enable the expansion of digital technologies, like secure encrypted mobile tickets, across the continent.
“The passion for live entertainment is at the heart of African culture. Over the past 13 years, we’ve empowered event creators across the continent to deliver exceptional experiences through our ticketing platform,” said James Tagg, Managing Director, Quicket. “Partnering with Ticketmaster marks a landmark moment in connecting African artists to a global audience and enhancing the experience for local fans and promoters alike.”
Under the leadership of Managing Director James Tagg, Quicket will continue to operate as a standalone business unit from Cape Town. Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket marketplace and the global market leader in live event ticketing products and services. Through official partnerships with thousands of venues, artists, sports teams, festivals, performing arts centers and theaters, Ticketmaster processes 550 million tickets per year across 35+ different countries. Ticketmaster is a part of Live Nation Entertainment.