Parties, conferences, live podcasts, and concerts all share one thing: they sell tickets on Tix Africa. After recording ₦2 billion in ticket sales in 2023, the company wants to expand to Rwanda and the UK.
If you’ve attended a concert, live podcast, or conference in Nigeria in the last three years, odds are that you’ve interacted with Tix Africa, a ticketing platform launched in 2019. Founded by Folayemi Agusto and Nosakhare Oyegun, Tix recorded ₦2 billion in ticket sales in 2023, a big jump from the ₦884 million it reported in 2022.
Despite Nigeria’s quickening inflation, that growth has continued in the first half of 2024—Tix Africa says it has sold over 150,000 tickets.
Data from Tix
“After sorting food and various essentials, Nigerians believe anything left is for enjoyment,” said Agusto.
Nigeria is not Tix’s only market. It also operates in South Africa and Ghana, with plans to expand to Rwanda and the United Kingdom. The company will raise funding for this expansion. While the company would not be drawn into commenting, it is likely looking to raise over $150,000.
“We have raised equity through our pre-seed round and accelerator programs like Google Black Founder Fund,” said Agusto.
Tix Africa’s Rwanda and UK expansion
In Rwanda, the draw for Tix is a 10,000-capacity BK Arena, and in the UK, the success of Afrobeats is driving live shows and concerts. Many Africans in the diaspora are underserved and craving more African experiences, said Agusto.
Afrobeats has become Nigeria’s most significant export to the UK and Europe in the last decade. Three Nigerian artistes, Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy, have sold out the O2 arena in London in the last few years.
“We don’t just go anywhere and sell tickets. There has to be an enabling environment to expand and grow.” The enabling environment in the UK is not just music but also tech events.
While Tix has an impressive roster of corporate clients such as the Lagos Fashion Week (LSW) Jameson, Femme Fest Afrochella, Sterling, Palm Wine music festival, and Flytime music festival, it wants to connect with a consumer market.
“Next month, we are launching a new website and checkout experience for Tix. It will take you less than 30 seconds to buy a ticket.”
It is working on an app that helps people discover events near them. Tix recently partnered with Audiomack to provide ticketing tools for African artists to connect with their fans in person and bring music closer to them.
By helping people find events near them, creators can sell more tickets by promoting their businesses in Tix’s feed and targeting the people in their target location.
It is not Tix’s first experiment. In 2021, it launched Tix Pro, a subscription-based service, to help creators track the success of their events and have data for future events. Yet, many creators, who typically begin selling tickets close to the event date, didn’t want to be locked into subscriptions. In 2023, it discontinued Tix Pro and now offers full features to all users.
While the company is not yet profitable, it hopes that surpassing its 2024 sales targets will bring it closer to this goal.
Tix Africa, which competes with Eventbrite, Nairabox, and Ariya, makes money by charging a percentage of ticket sales for paid events (typically 5%) and a small fee on each ticket.
Its vision of the future is bold: “We can own a 10,000-capacity event in the future. Owning a venue can serve as a funnel for ticketing. We will earn money from both ticketing and events. Already, our yearly Tixieland event—a company-wide event to showcase the Tix brand—is a great resource for us to test things.”
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