South African event ticketing and cashless platform Howler has secured its second round of funding to build on its end-to-end event technology stack, grow market share in Sub-Saharan Africa, and expand into Europe and Asia Pacific countries.
Howler is a ticketing and cashless technology platform for medium to large-scale events that has to date processed billions of rand worth of transactions and millions of tickets across thousands of events.
The startup raised its first round of funding after taking part in the Cape Town-based Barclays Accelerator in 2017, which was powered by Techstars, and Techstars has made a follow-on investment in this undisclosed round, which also features Platform Investment Partners Growth and Platform45.
“In 2017, we were licensing our tech and had a team of about 25 people in the company. Back then, Techstars really helped us shape a vision and put us on a different trajectory. With Platform Growth’s first investment round and Platform45 as a development partner, we are 2.5 years down the line, 70 people strong and have managed to develop and own 100 per cent of our entire platform,” said Shai Evian, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Howler.
He said the investment from the three firms brought value from multiple angles, including software development, funding and access to a global network of like-minded entrepreneurs.
“We’ve been extremely impressed with the progress the Howler team has made and growth in the company since completing the Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars in 2017,” said Yossi Hasson, Techstars managing director.
“As the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, we’re excited to support them in continuing on that journey. Our support gives Howler access to this global network to help amplify global reach for expansion, ability to attract capital and find exceptional talent.”
Platform45, a software company that specialises in product design, mobile and web development, has been working with Howler’s product team for some time, and welcomed the latest development.
“Our vision has always been to build software that helps businesses and people do more through the power of tech. When we started working with the team behind Howler, we immediately knew this wasn’t just any idea, this was an idea that could change eventing around the world,” Shaun Richards, managing director of Platform45, said.
“With our investment in Howler, the commercial team at Howler can focus on growing their footprint globally without any concerns over the software scaling seamlessly, Platform45 can focus on what we do best – supporting Howler’s platform team in building cutting-edge features that make Howler one-of-a-kind.”
