Attending concerts, theater and other live events can be a magical experience. Much less magical are tickets that turn out to be fake or cost a month’s salary thanks to scalpers. Newly launched FanDragon Technologies wants to change this.
While many ticketing sites have measures in place to stop scalping or fraud, there are still many loopholes in the industry. FanDragon aims to be the consummate solution for ticket providers of all types of experiences: sports, concerts, theater, movies and theme parks. It plans to do this by offering new layers of security to the ticket distribution process with an SaaS, blockchain-driven platform.
The company is formally launching today, with $12 million in VC funding and offices in Los Angeles, New York and London, three of the world's biggest markets for live events.
FanDragon will use what is known as the Aventus Protocol to attach blockchain-based information to digitally-distributed tickets. This helps control the flow of tickets and track who is purchasing them, thus eliminating bots and tracking fraudsters. Tickets are then stored in a secure mobile wallet.
In addition to its security features, FanDragon’s tools offer a host of fringe benefits to ticket-sellers. Pinning each ticket to a real “identity” on the blockchain gives ticket-sellers a new layer of insight into their customers and the potential to offer more uniquely-tailored ticket upgrades or other day-of-event incentives.
Stepping up to the plate as CEO of this new venture is Robert Weiss, a longtime technology guru and entrepreneur. Most recently, Weiss served for five years as CEO of The Arpanet Group. Other roles have included CEO and COO titles at a range of tech firms and media networks.
“Fans and rightsholders need help,” he said in a statement. “Everyone is negatively impacted by software bots and scalpers that drive up prices, counterfeiting organizations that scam venues and fans and the overall lack of transparency in the ticketing industry today.
“We need a better way to protect the fan experience and decrease fraud,” he continued. “The FanDragon team is thrilled to provide all that through our unique technology and forever improve the ticket-delivery experience.”
