TheCollegeFever (TCF), a college event ticket booking startup raised a seed funding worth $250,000 (Rs 1.7 crore) from Mumbai-based investment firm 11.2 Advisors.
It is the first time that TheCollegeFever is raising funds from external resources and intends on using the capital for customer acquisition and improving technology, its founder Kushal Aralihalli said.
The Bengaluru-based company, which is run by Culturo Technology Pvt. Ltd, works in partnership with 2,000 colleges and has sold over 4 lakhs tickets in over 6,000 events amounting to Rs 10 crore, its Aralihalli added.
Kushal Aralihalli founded the event ticket startup in 2016 and managed to double its growth since last year.
TheCollegeFever operates in a market segment that makes it compete directly with giants BookMyShow, MeraEvents and Paytm who are also ticketing platforms. “Our consistent performance has impressed our investors as the funding was based on achieving certain targets and we did that. While the first round of funding has been completed, we are open to a new round of funding,” Aralihalli said, before adding that two competitors even tried to buy-out his company.
The founder added that his platform is considered a go-to destination for booking events among several prestigious colleges such as IIT and IIM. He also highlighted that his company was profitable.
“With a seamless user experience, the platform has worked among youngsters. Colleges are creating some of the most talked about campus events on our platform,” Aralihalli said. “It is a niche product that is customized to the college event organisers. That’s our biggest asset,” he added.
TCF’s operates by partnering with colleges such as IIT Bombay, IIT BHU, IIT Rajasthan, IIM Bangalore, IIM Indore, NIT Trichy among others and helps in coordination students festivals, conducting workshops as well as several coverage promotions and sponsorship.