Pollen Funding, Investors & Competitors

Pollen has raised $244M across 4 funding rounds, most recently a $156M Series C in April 2022.

Last Pollen funding round

$156M

Series C · Apr 2022

Cumulative funding Pollen raised

$244M

across 4 funding rounds

Key investors in Pollen

  • Kindred Capital
  • BACKED VC
  • Molten Ventures
  • Northzone
  • Frontline Ventures
  • SGH CAPITAL
  • GBL Capital
  • 37 Angels

Pollen Overview

About Pollen

Pollen is a London-headquartered marketplace for events, festivals, travel, and entertainment experiences. The platform partners with Live Nation, C3 Presents, MGM Resorts, and Universal Music Group to curate premium access. It integrates ticketing from Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, StubHub, SeeTickets, Paylogic, and Front Gate Tickets for global youth culture events.


Founded

2014

HQ

United KingdomLondon

Website

pollen.co

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2C

Revenue model

Commission

Pollen Funding History

Pollen has raised a total of $244M across 4 funding rounds.

Pollen's first fundraising round was a $10M seed round in October 2016. The most recent completed round was a $156M Series C in April 2022.

Pollen funding rounds

Pollen funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedDeal Summary
Apr 2022Series CBACKED VC (lead); Kindred Capital (lead); Lansdowne Partners (lead); Molten Ventures (lead); Northzone (lead); GBL Capital$156M-
Oct 2019Series BNorthzone (lead); Kindred Capital; SGH CAPITAL; GBL Capital; BACKED VC; Molten Ventures$60MPollen, formerly known as Verve, is an invite-only marketplace that enables users to access exclusive experiences in travel, music, sports, and festivals, allowing members to bring friends and share rewards. The platform integrates with major ticketing providers like Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Stubhub, and SeeTickets, and partners with over 500 global brands including Live Nation, MGM Resorts, and AEG. By October 2019, Pollen had 35,000 active members globally and had sold nearly one million experiences. On October 24, 2019, Pollen raised $60 million in a financing round led by Northzone, with participation from Sienna Capital and existing investors including Backed, Kindred Capital, and Draper Esprit (now Molten Ventures). This brought total funding to $100 million. Gareth Jefferies from Northzone and Timo Boldt, CEO of Gousto, joined the board. The funds were intended to scale the membership base, expand into music, sports, and travel, and enter new verticals and products, targeting the $800 billion annual spend by 16-28-year-olds. As part of the round, Pollen acquired Lifestylez, North America's largest college ski and snowboard experience provider, and made other North American acquisitions to broaden its offerings. Pollen positions itself as a powerful distribution channel for brands engaging Gen Z, with ambitions to become culturally significant in how this demographic accesses experiences and services.
Oct 2017Series AMolten Ventures (lead); Kindred Capital; BACKED VC; Frontline Ventures; Elderstreet Investments; Columbia Lake Partners$19M-
Oct 2016SeedBACKED VC (lead); Frontline Ventures (lead); Kindred Capital (lead); SAATCHiNVEST; SGH CAPITAL; 37 Angels; Peter Davies; Universal Music; Bamboo Ventures$10M-

Who has invested in Pollen?

15 investors have backed Pollen across its funding rounds, including Kindred Capital, BACKED VC, Molten Ventures, Northzone, Frontline Ventures and SGH CAPITAL.

Lead investors include BACKED VC, Kindred Capital, Lansdowne Partners, Molten Ventures, Northzone and 1 other investor.


Pollen Investors

Investors in Pollen by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
Kindred CapitalUnited KingdomLondon4LeadOct 2016
BACKED VCUnited KingdomLondon4LeadOct 2016
Molten VenturesUnited KingdomLondon3LeadOct 2017
SGH CAPITALLuxembourgLuxembourg2ParticipantOct 2016
GBL CapitalBelgiumBrussels2ParticipantOct 2019
Frontline VenturesUnited KingdomLondon2LeadOct 2016
NorthzoneUnited KingdomLondon2LeadOct 2019
SAATCHiNVESTUnited KingdomLondon1ParticipantOct 2016
37 AngelsUnited StatesUnited States1ParticipantOct 2016
Peter DaviesUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom1ParticipantOct 2016
Universal MusicNetherlandsNew York City, NY1ParticipantOct 2016
Lansdowne PartnersUnited KingdomLondon1LeadApr 2022
Elderstreet InvestmentsUnited KingdomLondon1ParticipantOct 2017

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Acquisitions by Pollen

Pollen has acquired 3 companies to date.

Last acquisition by Pollen was on December 10th 2018. Pollen acquired Campus Vacations for $7M.


Latest Acquisitions by Pollen

Campus Vacations
JusCollege
We-Represent
Description
Campus Vacations is a group travel organizer for university and college students in Canada and the U.S., specializing in ski trips under SnowJam and spring break resort packages. Acquired by Verve in 2018, it partners with brands like MGM Resorts, Universal Music Group, and Ticketmaster for events in over 20 countries.
JusCollege is an Austin-based platform for group travel planning targeting college students and social groups. The software handles payments via split options, deposits, layaways, and tipping points, while managing itineraries, rooming lists, and supplier contracts for trips to destinations like Cancun and Miami. JusCollege processes bookings for over 50,000 travelers yearly through influencer-led groups on campuses in the US.
We-Represent is a UK network of brand representatives aged 16 to 25, deploying young ambassadors for promotional campaigns at festivals, holidays, events, and retail activations. Headquartered in London, it partners with major brands, holiday providers, and event organizers to drive sales and marketing through grassroots engagement. The model leverages social media-savvy promoters for experiential activations across music festivals and consumer brands.
HQ CountryCanadaUnited StatesUnited Kingdom
HQ City
Toronto
Las Vegas, NV
London
Deal Date10 Dec 201812 Apr 201828 Mar 2016
Valuation$7M$25M$4M
EV/Revenue
EV/EBITDA

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Pollen Competitors

Pollen competitors include listed companies like CTS Eventim, Recruit Holdings, Uber and Prosus, and private ones like Fever and Xiaohongshu.

Public and private companies comparable to Pollen
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
CTS EventimGermanyGermanyPublicly listed$3.5B$622M$6.3B1.3x
FeverUnited StatesNew York City, NYPrivate--$2B-
Recruit HoldingsJapanJapanPublicly listed$24B$4B$156B6.0x
UberUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$52B$6.2B$145B2.8x
ProsusNetherlandsNetherlandsPublicly listed$9.7B$1.1B$86B8.0x
XiaohongshuChinaShanghaiPrivate--$20B-

Pollen Public Comps

Pollen is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Amazon, Alibaba Group, Recruit Holdings, Uber, Booking Holdings, Pinduoduo, Airbnb, MercadoLibre, Prosus and DoorDash.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Amazon$717B$161B3.9x3.5x17.5x13.8x
Alibaba Group$153B$15B1.7x1.6x17.5x13.0x
Recruit Holdings$24B$4B6.4x6.0x37.9x25.2x
Uber$52B$6.2B3.0x2.8x24.9x14.6x
Booking Holdings$27B$8.3B4.9x4.6x15.9x12.4x
Pinduoduo$64B$14B0.7x0.7x3.1x2.8x
Airbnb$12B$2.4B7.2x6.5x36.3x18.2x
MercadoLibre$29B$3.7B3.5x2.6x27.2x25.1x

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Common questions about Pollen

When was Pollen founded?Pollen was founded in 2014.
Where is Pollen headquartered?Pollen is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
Is Pollen publicly listed?No, Pollen is a private, VC-backed company.
How much funding has Pollen raised?Pollen has raised $244M across 4 funding rounds.
What was Pollen's last funding round?Pollen's last funding round was a $156M Series C in April 2022, led by BACKED VC, Kindred Capital, Lansdowne Partners, Molten Ventures and 1 other investor.
Who are Pollen's investors?Pollen's investors include Kindred Capital, BACKED VC, Molten Ventures, SGH CAPITAL, GBL Capital, Frontline Ventures, Northzone, SAATCHiNVEST, 37 Angels, Peter Davies and 5 others.
Which companies are comparable to Pollen?Companies comparable to Pollen include CTS Eventim, Fever, Recruit Holdings, Uber, Prosus and Xiaohongshu.
How many companies has Pollen acquired?Pollen has acquired 3 companies, including Campus Vacations, JusCollege and We-Represent.
What was the largest acquisition by Pollen?The $25M acquisition of JusCollege in April 2018 is the largest acquisition Pollen has made to date.

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