Ingresse — one of Brazil’s largest online ticket sales platforms — has just acquired Ticket Sports, entering a niche that has been growing in recent years and has strong potential for expansion.
Ticket Sports operates selling registrations for sports events, including Ironman — the competition that combines running, swimming, and cycling — and the São Silvestre marathon, one of the largest in Brazil.
Meanwhile, Ingresse has always focused on music events, selling tickets for major festivals, concerts, parties, and clubs.
Recently, the company has also entered football matches, selling tickets for Botafogo games and VIP boxes at Grêmio, Palmeiras, Santos, Corinthians, and Bahia.
The idea is to merge this vertical with Ticket Sports, creating a unique business unit in this segment.
The acquisition is part of Ingresse’s strategy to consolidate the ticketing market, which gained momentum when the company raised a round of R$ 90 million in 2019, led by Endurance, the family office of banker Pedro Conde’s heirs.
This is Ingresse’s seventh M&A since it was founded in 2014 by Gabriel Benarrós. The most recent acquisitions were BlackTag, focused on university events, and IngressoLive and Virtualticket, which operate in music events.
“There is a market trend of increasingly seeking options that combine entertainment with health,” Benarrós told Brazil Journal. “Before, everyone wanted to spend New Year’s going to parties for five consecutive days. Today, people no longer want that. They want to go to a party one day, do yoga the next, and participate in a race on the third…”
He mentioned that 20% of Ingresse’s customers no longer want to consume alcohol at the events it sells.
“There is a clear movement in this direction. People want the musical component but without the toxicity of the event,” he said. “And with Ticket Sports, we want to bring the sports component without it being boring. This combination is very important.”
Founded in 2015, Ticket Sports is the largest platform for selling tickets for sporting events in Latin America. The company had a GMV of R$ 300 million last year, compared to Ingresse’s R$ 1.2 billion.
This year, Ingresse is expected to close with a GMV of R$ 2 billion, taking the acquisition into account.
However, Ticket Sports’ profitability is lower. “But there is this strategic aspect, a trend, that compensates for this tighter take rate,” said Benarrós.
Ingresse’s plan is to more than double Ticket Sports’ revenue in the coming years — following the average of its previous acquisitions. According to Benarrós, in the other 7 M&As, the company increased the revenue of the acquired companies by an average of 2.4 times.
“Companies usually double in size for two main reasons. We bring a lot of technology, unlocking avenues that were not available before, and we have much more financial strength. We can offer financial benefits to event organizers, which help attract them to the platform,” the founder said.
For example, Ingresse operates by granting credit to events. A few years ago, it created an FIDC and has already loaned R$ 70 million to partner organizers — a differentiator that helps attract and retain these customers.
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Arwen Volkov, A graduate of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland with a degree in International Finance, Arwen specializes in sustainable finance and green investments. She began her career at an investment bank in London, where she developed financing models for environmentally friendly projects. Known for her analytical and strategic thinking skills, Arwen is a sought-after financial consultant. In her spare time, she mentors fintech startups, contributing to their growth strategies. She is also a nature enthusiast and an amateur photographer.
