Insurtech startup TicketGuardian bags $8 million in Series A funding to accelerate growth in live events space

We wrote about TicketGuardian in March when the insurtech startup joined forces with SquadUP to maximize revenue for event organizers and disrupt ticket insurance space. Yesterday, the California-based startup announced it has secured a $8 million Series A funding to fuel the growth of the technology, products and services it provides to event organizers and ticketing platforms, as well as to the attendees and fans for which the industry exists. The latest round was led by American Family Ventures and IA Capital Group. This new round brings total funding to $13 million to date.

Founded in 2016 by Bryan Derbyshire, TicketGuardian offers a ticket protection service by offering a virtual refund for the non-refundable live events space. The startup is a leader in the live events space powering a better fan experience by connecting platforms, venues, and event organizers, with fans. By providing real-time data and analytics, TicketGuardian powers control over inventory, customer service, strategic marketing and, ultimately, the fan experience. The company has two products. The first product, known as standard coverage, covers many of the perils that can keep attendees from making it to an event such as car accidents and severe weather to family emergencies and even the common cold. As with any type of insurance, their standard coverage requires documentation when a claim is filed. However they make the claims process as simple as possible. They also give those who have filed a claim the ability to quickly and conveniently upload their documentation online.

“This new injection of capital will enable us to grow our company, our services and our customer base,” said TicketGuardian CEO and founder Bryan Derbyshire. “Along with the expertise of our investors, it allows us to continue our innovation and remain the insurtech thought leader in the live event space.”

TicketGuardian entered the market to improve one aspect: enhancing the attendee and fan experience by providing an option to protect their tickets. While doing so, it also built industry leading enterprise level technology.

“We now securely power real decision-making data to ensure the best experience across the board for our partners and their attendees,” said Derbyshire. “Our exponential growth is proof that the live events industry is begging for change. This industry has responded with open arms and is embracing a better customer experience.”

“We are extremely excited to be partnering with TicketGuardian as it has built the first live events industry-focused insurtech platform,” said Drew Aldrich, Principle of American Family Ventures. “TicketGuardian is fundamentally reshaping the way that live event ecosystems protects their investments. We are excited about its vision, technology and the incredible opportunity. We’re thrilled to join with them to continue to enable their significant growth.”

TicketGuardian is at the forefront of an important turning point in the live events space. Every year consumers lose money after buying more than 1 billion tickets to concerts, festivals, sports and other live events they can’t attend. An attendee can easily insure their purchased ticket, registration or booking through TicketGuardian’s FanShield suite of products. Currently, TicketGuardian is powering attendee protection approximately every 45 seconds.

“TicketGuardian embodies the future of insurtech, providing a frictionless customer experience and peace of mind while augmenting the enterprise technology of its key platform partners,” said Matt Perlman, Principal at IA Capital.

As TicketGuardian rolls out its proprietary control mechanisms into the live events industry, the future of ticketing refund, exchange and secondary markets will expand beyond no refunds or secondary sales only – offering not only fans, but also organizers and their platforms, control over additional ticket sales, customer data and engagement.

Since launching, TicketGuardian has expanded to 40 employees. It partners with dozens of platforms such as Provenue, Accesso Showare, Showclix, events.com and others that power tens of thousands of events that sell more than 100 million tickets and registrations every year. TicketGuardian is also the title sponsor of the TicketGuardian 500, a NASCAR race held at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., March 10, 2019.

TicketGuardian is a protecht, inc. company focusing on using technology to create a more sustainable live-events ecosystem. TicketGuardian powers technology for its wholly-owned insurance subsidiary, FanShield LLC, which includes several insurance products including FanShield, RegShield, TourShield and EventShield.