Sheffield ticket startup raises £3.9m from NPIF II fund

Tickets for Good has raised €4.5m, or £3.9m, according to the announcement of the deal.

The money comes from NPIF II – Mercia Equity Finance, one of the funds managed by Mercia under the second Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund programme.

The company sells low-cost tickets for live events to key workers.

It says the money will go towards international expansion and the creation of 10 new jobs in Sheffield over the next three years.

The raise is described as a further round, so it follows earlier investment. The size and date of that earlier funding were not disclosed alongside this announcement.

Neither was the equity stake taken, the valuation, or whether existing backers followed on.

The singer Robbie Williams is named as a backer of the business in the announcement. His stake has not been quantified.

For founders in the north of England, the interest is less in the celebrity name than in the plumbing. NPIF II money is public-backed equity distributed by appointed fund managers, and Mercia is one of them.

That means the cheque arrives with a regional condition attached: the jobs are counted, and here they are counted in Sheffield.

A commitment to create 10 posts over three years is the kind of number a fund can measure and a founder can be held to. It is also the kind of number worth reading carefully before signing.

What the deal does not show is price. Until terms are published, the cost of regional public-backed equity remains a matter between the fund manager and the company.