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TechInAfrica — South African online ticketing startup, Quicket, has made more than R1 billion in sales, turning it into a mega business.
Started by three founders, James Hedley, Michael Kennedy, and James Tagg, this startup based in Cape Town in 2011 to create a pan-African business.
On an occasion, Hedley says that they planned to create an ideal platform to easily connect people with payments. This plan came true through an event and within three months Quicket has drawn the attention of AfrikaBurn. The directors of AfrikaBurn took a chance on them but then they came up with the idea that they also needed to run a field service at the big event’s gate to scan tickets. It was a lightbulb moment that made their business grow bigger.
“The platform unlocked a new event market that didn’t exist before,” Hedley remarks. “Anyone with an idea didn’t have a way to monetize their event easily. It was a lot of admin and difficult to collect money. So, what we have found is that thousands of events using the platform run workshops and seminars that allow them to trade as micro-businesses.”
Hedley further says that the South African market is segmented and online ticketing companies have their own niches along with their rivals such as Webtickets, iTickets, and Howler.
He also says that Quicket has identified its own audience that has seen its growth prediction increasing roughly 70 percent year on year.
Quicket, that has done more than 50,000 events on the platform, sold R4 million tickets in its first year. Last year, the sales reached R250m and this year they successfully hit R300m.
Quicket allows users to scan their tickets through a barcode scanner and a laptop or using a QuicketGO app that is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.
“It was a trial by fire. Running a gate is not what you expect when you start a tech company,” says Hedley.
Selling tickets in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia, Quicket has now set its eyes on expanding into Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, and Egypt.
Source: itnewsafrica.com
