Photo Credit: Posh co-founders Avante Price & Eli Taylor-Lemire
Small events platform startup Posh raises $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Goodwater Capital.
Event startup Posh is scaling up to focus on intimate gatherings of up to a few hundred people, with an aim to become the TikTok of small events. The company says it has raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from FirstMark Capital, Companyon Ventures, and Epic Ventures. The company has raised a total of $31 million in capital from investors, including the aforementioned as well as Day One Ventures and Pareto Holdings.
The startup plans to use the funds to expand its team from 26 to 40 in product and go-to-market areas, in addition to updating its app with better suggestions for relevant events. The company has 2 million registered users and $95 million in lifetime experiences booked through its platform.
“Consumers can also use Posh to discover the best events, experience connection and belonging, and eventually grow their own social communities on the platform,” says Hatim Khety, a partner at Goodwater Capital, in a statement explaining that the firm decided to invest in the company over its belief that Posh will be the “next big social platform” to bring people together in person.
Posh initially launched in 2020, with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering for events organizers to host events on Posh’s website. Now, it plans to focus on its own app, which opened to consumers last October, and works similarly to TikTok for events; users scroll vertically to find events that interest them. The app is available on both iOS and Android.
In January, the marketplace app orders counted for 6% of ticket orders, which jumped to 12% in June, according to co-founders Avante Price and Eli Taylor-Lemire. Posh aims to get 25% market share of all tickets sold directly from its app by year’s end.
At first, the app only showed events near you and trending events. This week, the company has launched a feature to allow users to import their contact books to see which of their friends are already on the platform. The company has plans to introduce a For You feed in the next few months, relying on signals like users’ direct or second connections, as well as the type of events a person has already attended.
“Posh is a platform where who’s going matters most,” says Price. “If you are going to a 500-person event where you know five to ten people, you want to hang out with them but also want to spend time with people that are similar.”
The app hosts around 5,000 events per month, the co-founders tell TechCrunch. Many are focused on nightlife or social activities, but the company wants to branch out into areas like fitness, food, and art.
Posh has also been trying to build a community for event organizers by hosting events specifically for them, providing tutorials about the app and other parts of hosting an event, such as finding a venue or booking a photographer. The company wants to help creators such as podcasters to engage with their top audience with in-person events, and help brands engage with community members with recurring small-scale events.
Posh charges no fee to event organizers, but takes a 10% plus $0.99 fee from people who book tickets. The startup has had profitable months, but is currently not profitable overall, and is focusing on growth. The platform currently sees roughly 350,000 bookings for 300,000 people each month, making a lot of people one-time users. As personalization features make their way into Posh, the company expects to see one-time users become repeat users.
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