During more than a decade as a ticketing agent, Jean-Sebastien Gosuin over and again saw empty seats at sold-out events from FIFA soccer matches to the Olympic Games.
That inspired him to team up with two other Belgian entrepreneurs to create Seaters, a ticket-fielding platform and app designed to give fans second shots at seats that become available at events that are technically sold out.
“Even if an event is sold out, there are always empty seats,” Gosuin said at a Collision technology conference in Las Vegas.
Organizers typically hold back seats for problem solving or to have spaces available in the event of unexpected need.
Meanwhile, ticket resellers who buy in bulk often return seats they do not sell, and sponsors or corporations that buy blocks of seats for promotions or as employee perks sometimes have tickets they cannot use.
Some ticket holders simply cancel for personal reasons.
Seaters comes into play after an event is officially sold out, creating a dynamic waiting list that provides aspiring ticket buyers with a percentage probability of getting a spot in the stands.
As seats once claimed become available, Seaters gives those in the queue opportunities to snatch them up.
Tickets are priced at face value, with Seaters charging a 20 percent handling fee.
“It is bringing fair trade to a very dark market,” Gosuin said. “It is an official gateway to the last seats that remain; the long-term vision is no more empty seats.”
Fans, teams, food vendors and sponsors whose logos adorn stadium walls benefit from making sure seats are not wasted at events, he added.
Seaters established headquarters early last year in New York.
Meanwhile in Europe, French financial services titan BNP Paribas has already used it to redistribute employee tickets to sponsored events, Gosuin said, adding that Ligue 1 soccer club Olympique Lyonnais are rolling out Seaters for matches.
Seaters recently won a place in a Tremplin startup incubator in Paris, where it has an office.
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