US-based social cinema ticketing platform Atom Tickets has completed a $60m series C round featuring film studio Lionsgate and entertainment groups Walt Disney Company and 20th Century Fox.
Asset manager Fidelity Management & Research Company led the round, which came just over two years after the three corporates provided $50m of series B funding for Atom.
Founded in 2014, Atom launched its app-based online film ticketing service two years later. The platform allows individuals to invite friends to screenings, groups to buy seats that are arranged together but paid for separately, and concessions to be purchased in advance.
The ticketing model replaces paper tickets with smartphone-based QR codes, and the company utilises the data it obtains through the transactions and sells it on to film studios that use it to sell their content more effectively.
Michael Burns, vice-chairman of Lionsgate, said: “We are pleased to participate in this latest round of financing for Atom Tickets, which has demonstrated enormous traction with exhibition partners, studios and moviegoers during the past year.”
Matthew Bakal, Atom’s co-founder and chairman, added: “This year has proven to be our biggest yet in terms of growth, because we are leading and delivering on what the industry needs.
“A year ago we were rolling out our platform to exhibitors across the country, and now we have secured backing by Fidelity Investments, one of the biggest players in finance.”