For many event organisers, selling tickets is only one part of the job. They still have to promote the event, collect payments, manage ticket buyers at the entrance, and make sure everyone gets through the gate.
And after putting in all that work, they often have to give a portion of their ticket revenue to the platform that helped them sell.
Ticketlify wants to change that arrangement.
Founded by Dr. Feyiseye Fadeni and Bodun Akinyele, the Lagos-based Nigerian event ticketing platform is building a system that allows organisers to sell tickets, manage entry, market their events, and earn additional income through advertising.
Its central idea is that ticketing platforms should help organisers make money, not just collect fees from them.
“We watched promoters do all the work, the flyers, the posts, the door, and then hand a cut of every ticket to a platform that did none of it,” said Fadeni, co-founder of Ticketlify. “That’s true in Lagos, and it’s true in London.”
The company says its platform now supports ticket sales across 33 countries, with payments in currencies including naira, pounds, US dollars and Canadian dollars.
From Kaduna parties to a Lagos base
Ticketlify’s story began in Kaduna, where it supported events such as Vibez Corner and the After Exams Stress Party. It also powered the Street Eat Jollof Festival in Jos as it built its presence in Nigeria’s event scene.
But as the company looks beyond the Nigerian market, its founders believe Lagos offers a more suitable base for its ambitions.
Lagos is one of Africa’s biggest entertainment and commercial centres, with a busy calendar of concerts, festivals, club nights and conferences. Its international connections also make it a natural place for a company looking to serve event organisers across different markets.
From its Nigerian beginnings, Ticketlify has expanded to support events in places such as Coventry in the UK, Toronto and Regina in Canada. The company says its platform serves organisers and ticket buyers across more than 33 countries.
For buyers, the process is designed to be straightforward. They can pay in their local currency and receive a QR-code ticket immediately after purchase, without having to deal with complicated payment arrangements or manually convert currencies.
At the event, organisers can scan the QR codes using the Ticketlify mobile app. The scanning system works offline and across multiple devices, which can be useful at larger gatherings where internet access is unreliable.
The platform also supports in-person ticket sales. In the UK, US and Canada, organisers can use its Tap to Pay feature to accept contactless payments directly on compatible smartphones, without purchasing a separate card reader.
Online and walk-in sales are managed from the same dashboard, giving organisers a single place to monitor ticket purchases.
Helping organisers make money beyond tickets
One of the more unusual parts of Ticketlify’s model is its advertising network.
Through the Ticketlify Ad Network, businesses can sponsor event tickets and target audiences based on location and event category. Organisers can opt into the programme without paying an upfront fee and receive 70% of the advertising revenue generated from their events, according to the company.
This creates another potential income stream for organisers, beyond the money they make from ticket sales.
Ticketlify is also trying to reduce the work involved in promoting events. Its AI marketing tools can generate social media captions, create or adapt event flyers, schedule posts across platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads, and send text messages to previous buyers and followers.
Instead of paying a fixed monthly subscription, organisers purchase credits and pay for the tools they use. The idea is to bring several tasks that promoters might otherwise handle across different apps into one platform.
Organisers can also track ticket sales, monitor the performance of individual promoters, and manage refunds and payouts. Attendees can follow event organisers, discover upcoming events and join discussions around them.
For Akinyele, co-founder of Ticketlify, the goal is to make the business of organising events less complicated.
“Ticketlify exists to take the friction out of events,” he said. “Promoters get one platform that handles ticketing across 33 countries, so they can focus on the experience rather than the logistics and keep more of what they build.”
Building beyond Nigeria
Ticketlify’s expansion reflects its founders’ ambition to take a platform that grew out of Nigeria’s event culture into other markets.
The company is positioning itself for concerts, club nights, festivals, comedy shows, conferences and community events, rather than limiting its services to one type of gathering.
However, expanding into 33 countries is only part of the challenge. Ticketlify will also have to convince organisers in different markets that its combination of ticketing, marketing and advertising offers more value than the platforms they already use.
Its founders say they remain connected to the community that supported the business in its early days, even as they look towards a wider market.
“We started in Kaduna, and we’ve never stopped building for the promoters and event-goers who gave us our first shot,” Akinyele said. “But culture doesn’t stop at borders.”
Ticketlify is available through its website, ticketlify.com, and on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.