Explara, an event solutions platform, has acquired events ticketing company IndianStage.in. The acquisition will help the Bengaluru-based firm tap the entertainment market.
Explara founder and chief executive Santosh Panda declined to reveal the value of the deal, which is a mix of cash and equity. Panda said IndianStage.in has been an early entrant to the event ticketing space and embodies the same passion for offering simplified solutions to small and medium event organizers.
The founders of IndianStage, Baskar Ethirajan and Sajesh Nair, will now join Explara’s management team. “They (Ethirajan and Nair) have strong connections in the entertainment industry. We are super excited to have them onboard,” said Panda.
“With this acquisition, we expect a multifold growth in demand on both supply side and amongst consumers over next 24 months.”
Founded in 2008, IndianStage.in has ticketed for over 12,000 events in 21 cities across India and abroad and serving over 5,00,000 consumers.
Events mainly include live concerts and programmes related to arts, theatre and standup comedy. Nair said they looked at various ticketing players but Explara was a natural choice because of the “cultural fit, multi-vertical presence and entrepreneurial approach to running the business.” “The Indian market leader today is focused on movies and large format events,” said Reddy. “We think they (Explara and IndianStage.in) will build a multi-hundred crore sales business quickly from this point.”
M&As are heating up in the ticketing business space. In February, online ticketing firm BookMyShow acquired Eventifier for about Rs 12 crore as the Mumbai-based company looks to expand across the entertainment value chain.
