Sport for Business member Tickets.ie, Ireland’s largest independent ticketing company, is to create 20 new high-tech roles in developing a new ticketing product.
The product will streamline the sale of tickets for music and sporting events, ensuring that fans get fair access to tickets in the primary market. It promises to be a significant step forward to combat ticket touting.
The jobs will be created at the company’s new software development centre in Dublin city centre as part of a €1.5 million project to run over the next 12 months.
The project is supported by grant funding from the Enterprise Ireland Research and Development Fund. The jobs, announced by Minister of State John Halligan at the centre yesterday, will include highly skilled positions in software development and related management along with positions in sales, marketing and operations.
“Indigenous Irish companies are a key to a successful economy and Tickets.ie creating 20 new high-tech roles through innovative technology is very welcome news,” said Minister Halligan.
“I want to ensure that companies like Tickets.ie continue to be supported through funding, mentoring and advice. This new progressive and innovative system of how tickets are sold will make for a very bright future for the company.”
“Enterprise Ireland has been working with Tickets.ie since 2013 and seen first-hand how this innovative Irish company has gone from strength-to-strength, growing a strong client base and recruiting people at home,” added Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland.
“Tickets.ie is a great example of an Irish company with global ambition, competing and winning sustained business, and we look forward to continuing to work with them to support this growth, creating and maintaining jobs in Ireland.”
“The project is already underway and we’re looking forward to welcoming 20 new colleagues to the team, which will effectively double our current workforce,” said John O’Neill, CEO of Tickets.ie.
“Our observation is that many people who go to entertainment events feel the time is right for a change and this revolutionary product will radically improve how ticketing is setup and run.”
“The grant funding is a very strong vote of confidence from Enterprise Ireland in both the product and our ability to deliver the product, making it a commercial success. This vote of confidence is hugely important to us”.
Tickets.ie has partnered with Microsoft to provide technology and servicing, including hosting of the product on its high capacity Azure cloud platform.
The company commissioned Forrester Research to conduct a major market research study to validate the product’s business model and quantify commercial opportunities.
Founded in 2004, Tickets.ie issues 2.7 million tickets annually for thousands of events and many high-profile clients including the GAA, Connacht Rugby and The Abbey Theatre as well as other Irish and international organisations.
For the past five years, the company has been a top 20 finalist in the Deloitte Fast 50 which showcases Ireland’s leading tech companies. It was an Irish Times / Intertrade Ireland Innovation Awards finalist in 2013.
Tickets.ie will be present at today’s Teaming Up for Women’s Sport event putting forward a simple but effective means of raising ease of attendance for Women’s sporting fixtures.
