Eventbrite Copycat Eventmag Russia Gets Fast Lane And ru-Net Backing

A new copycat venture is coming out of business incubator Fast Lane Ventures, in collaboration with funding from ru-Net. The two companies are fostering a startup similar to the popular online event ticket portal Eventbrite, called Eventmag. Though similar in their service offering, Eventmag will focus on Russian event organizers and help them to sell tickets to their events over the internet. Fast Lane Ventures and Leonid Boguslavsky’s ru-Net have agreed to put in several million dollars to propogate the site and service to the Russian public.

Eventmag (eventmag.ru)

Eventmag, though similar to Eventbrite in many ways, fills a gaping hole in the Russian online ticketing solutions market place. Eventbrite currently lists only four events in Russia, and does not offer a Russian language option. This is exactly where Eventmag intends to capitalize. The service was launched in April 2009 and is free to use for visitors to the site; they take an amount equal to 9 percent of each ticket sold, from the event organizers. Primarily functioning as an intermediary between sellers and buyers, the site also acts as a quasi-social-network for event attendees so they can invite their friends to join; it is also integrated with major social media sites so events can be advertized directly from Eventmag. The service caters to events of all sizes, from private business meetings to large-scale music concerts, and everything in between. The company works with key strategic partners in media and entertainment to provide a robust service for any kind of event being organized in Russia, and intends to become the one-stop-shop of choice for any type of event held in the country. Eventmag is currently headed by CEO Natalia Atyasheva.