Pollen Funding, Investors & Competitors
Pollen is not operational anymore. It had raised $244M across 4 funding rounds.
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
About Pollen
Pollen was a London-based marketplace for curated travel, music and festival experiences. Members bought packaged trips and event weekends built with artists, entertainers and festival brands, and the platform integrated with ticketing providers so that members could bring friends and share rewards. The company earned revenue from the experiences it sold and from commissions on partner events. It was founded in 2014 by the brothers Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey as StreetTeam Software, a tool that turned festival goers into ticket sellers, and later traded as Verve before taking the name Pollen in 2019. It built a student travel business through the acquisitions of JusCollege and Campus Vacations and operated in the United Kingdom and the United States. The parent company entered administration in August 2022.
Founded
2014
HQ
LondonWebsite
Status
Closed
Customer focus
B2C
Revenue model
Commission
Pollen Valuation
Pollen is insolvent and not operational anymore. Read the announcement ↗
Pollen valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2022 | Write-down · Insolvency | $0 |
Pollen Funding History
Before winding down, 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
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | Series C | BACKED VC (lead); Kindred Capital (lead); Lansdowne Partners (lead); Molten Ventures (lead); Northzone (lead); GBL Capital | $156M | Pollen announced a $150 million Series C round on 21 April 2022, with backers named in the announcement including Kindred, Lansdowne Partners, Northzone, Sienna Capital, Backed and Molten Ventures. The company said the funding followed significant momentum and stellar growth despite the pandemic, and would be used to expand its curated travel and destination experiences built with artists and brands, among them J Balvin, Justin Bieber and Duran Duran. The company later said the $150 million figure included the conversion of earlier convertible notes and venture debt, and its accounts showed only about GBP 0.9 million of new equity received by July 2022. Pollen was founded in 2014 by Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey as StreetTeam Software, was renamed Verve in 2017 and Pollen in 2019, and is based in London with a presence in Los Angeles. It entered administration in August 2022. |
| Oct 2019 | Series B | Northzone (lead); Kindred Capital; SGH CAPITAL; GBL Capital; BACKED VC; Molten Ventures | $60M | Pollen, 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 2017 | Series A | Molten Ventures (lead); Kindred Capital; BACKED VC; Frontline Ventures; Elderstreet Investments; Columbia Lake Partners | $19M | Pollen, then called StreetTeam and rebranded as Verve in the same month, raised $18.5 million in Series A funding in October 2017. The financing came a year after a $10 million seed round. The platform turned fans into sellers of festival and event tickets and later became a marketplace for travel and music experiences. The company had launched in 2014 as StreetTeam Software and was founded by the brothers Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey, who left school at 17 to set up their first business selling events and products to young people by word of mouth. In 2018 Verve began acquiring student travel businesses, including JusCollege and Campus Vacations, and in October 2019 it raised a $60 million Series B and took the name Pollen. The company is headquartered in London. |
| Oct 2016 | Seed | BACKED VC (lead); Frontline Ventures (lead); Kindred Capital (lead); SAATCHiNVEST; SGH CAPITAL; 37 Angels; Peter Davies; Universal Music; Bamboo Ventures | $10M | Pollen, then trading as StreetTeam, raised $10 million in seed funding in October 2016 from a group of venture and angel investors. The company had launched in 2014 as StreetTeam Software, a platform that turned festival goers into ticket sellers, and was founded by the brothers Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey, who left school at 17 to start their first business selling events and products to young people through word of mouth. The round came a year before the October 2017 rebrand to Verve. The company later became Pollen, an invite-only marketplace for exclusive travel, music and festival experiences. It is headquartered in London. |
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
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 4 | Lead | Oct 2016 | |
| London | 4 | Lead | Oct 2016 | |
| London | 3 | Lead | Oct 2017 | |
 Luxembourg | 2 | Participant | Oct 2016 | |
 Brussels | 2 | Participant | Oct 2019 | |
| London | 2 | Lead | Oct 2016 | |
| London | 2 | Lead | Oct 2019 | |
| London | 1 | Participant | Oct 2016 | |
 United States | 1 | Participant | Oct 2016 | |
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><rect fill="%23e5e7eb" width="20" height="20" rx="4"/></svg>){kind=small} Peter Davies | United Kingdom | 1 | Participant | Oct 2016 |
 New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Oct 2016 | |
| London | 1 | Lead | Apr 2022 | |
| London | 1 | Participant | Oct 2017 | |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 15 Pollen investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions 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
| 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 Country |  | | |
| HQ City | Toronto | Las Vegas, NV | London |
| Deal Date | 10 Dec 2018 | 12 Apr 2018 | 28 Mar 2016 |
| Valuation | $7M | $25M | $4M |
| EV/Revenue | |||
| EV/EBITDA | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Pollen acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |||
Pollen Competitors
Pollen competitors included listed companies like Vivid Seats, Artmarket.com, MoneyHero and Enjoei, and private ones like Gopick and Auto Arremate®.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Publicly listed | $571M | ($577M) | $23M | 0.6x | |
 Madrid | Private | - | - | $500K | - | |
 France | Publicly listed | $10M | $2M | $27M | - | |
 Singapore | Publicly listed | $73M | ($5M) | $26M | - | |
 Brazil | Publicly listed | $48M | $7M | $26M | - | |
| Ribeirão | Private | - | - | $600K | - |
Pollen Public Comps
Pollen is defunct now, but its public comps included Getaround, EPWK Holdings, Spacefy, Hydaway Digital, MyHotelMatch, ReAlpha Tech, SosTravel.com and Oriental Culture Holding.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $73M | ($101M) | 0.0x | - | 0.0x | - | |||
| EPWK Holdings | $28M | ($10M) | 0.2x | - | (0.5x) | - | ||
| - | ($42K) | - | - | (13.9x) | - | |||
| - | ($2M) | - | - | (0.4x) | - | |||
| - | ($633K) | - | - | (9.6x) | - | |||
| $5M | ($16M) | 0.5x | 0.5x | (0.1x) | (0.1x) | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Pollen competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Pollen
| What happened to Pollen? | Pollen is not operational anymore and insolvent as of 16 August 2022. |
| When was Pollen founded? | Pollen was founded in 2014. |
| Where was Pollen headquartered? | Pollen was headquartered in London, United Kingdom. |
| Was Pollen publicly listed? | No, Pollen was a private, VC-backed company. |
| How much did Pollen raise? | Pollen 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 were Pollen's investors? | Pollen's investors included Kindred Capital, BACKED VC, Molten Ventures, SGH CAPITAL, GBL Capital, Frontline Ventures, Northzone, SAATCHiNVEST, 37 Angels, Peter Davies and 5 others. |
| Who were Pollen's competitors? | Pollen's competitors included Vivid Seats, Gopick, Artmarket.com, MoneyHero, Enjoei and Auto Arremate®. |
| How many companies did Pollen acquire? | Pollen 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 was the largest acquisition Pollen made. |
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