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U2's Edge backs Irish ticketing service

The Edge is among a group of investors who are pumping €1.9 million into a young Irish compa...
Newstalk
Newstalk

10.57 30 Mar 2017


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U2's Edge backs Irish...

U2's Edge backs Irish ticketing service

Newstalk
Newstalk

10.57 30 Mar 2017


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The Edge is among a group of investors who are pumping €1.9 million into a young Irish company aiming to shake up the online ticketing market.

U2's guitarist has joined Irish venture capital firm Atlantic Bridge University Fund in backing Coras, which provides a platform for purchasing tickets through Coras-connected social media and websites.

Its proprietary software enable entertainment event promoters to offer their tickets to customer through the online popular social media and consumer brand sites they frequently visit, rather than just via the small number of ticket distribution sites that currently seem to dominate the market.

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Hambro Perks, Elkstone Capital and Dave Burke also participated in the investment round, with Coras set to use the funds to continue to develop the infrastructure and launch the platform later this year.

CEO Mark McLaughlin (pictured) said:

"We believe that ticketing will no longer solely be the domain of traditional ticket agents, but will broaden to encompass other market leading brands, and we are looking forward to driving that transformation.

"If you’re a supplier such as a theatre, promoter, museum or sports team that wants to sell tickets through an increased distribution network or a distributor that wants to sell tickets with your core product or service, please get in touch as we would be excited to work with you."

The Edge – or David Evans on his passport – most recently joined bandmate Bono in investing in Dublin food technology start-up Nuritas.

The musical pair were part of the €2m fundraising in 2016 as the company announced plans to treble its workforce.

As well as hiring people in San Francisco, Nuritas is expected to bring its Irish numbers up to 60 this year. 

Nuritas' big data techniques allow it to discover peptides more cheaply and up to 10 times faster than by traditional means. It was also awarded €3m in EU funding to trial and market a peptide to prevent people who are pre-diabetic progressing to full-blown Type 2 diabetes.

Bono and The Edge also famously made shrewd early investments in both Facebook and Dropbox.


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