Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where J Balvin played a Pollen event in December of 2021 and is scheduled to play once again in December of 2022. Photo Credit: Sergei Remarenko
London-headquartered destination-event company Pollen (formerly Verve) has announced the completion of a $150 million Series C funding round.
Higher-ups at eight-year-old Pollen, which has worked with Justin Bieber and Duran Duran, unveiled the multimillion-dollar raise today. Pollen is “on a mission to build, curate and deliver the best experiences all over the world,” according to execs, and has organized multiple three- and four-day concert series (including in Punta Cana, Ibiza, and Cancun) featuring J Balvin for later this year.
Pollen has likewise coordinated with Live Nation, its Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits subsidiaries, and others “to sell their experiences.” And even with the ongoing return of concert series and high-profile music festivals, Pollen’s 2022 event calendar includes Chop Vegas (featuring a “huge Afrobeats line-up”), Aluna’s Noir Fever (a New Orleans “dance music spectacular”), and Tony Hawk’s Weekend Jam.
Bearing in mind these operational specifics, Pollen – which pulled down $60 million in funding back in October of 2019 – intends to put the capital from its $150 million Series C towards spearheading additional expansion plans.
Interestingly, on this front, Pollen said that it achieved “stellar growth” in 2021, as “sales increased more than 300% relative to pre-pandemic levels.”
Addressing his company’s $150 million round in a statement, Pollen co-founder and CEO Callum Negus-Fancey pointed to the perceived demand for “personalized travel experiences” that will prove memorable over time, notwithstanding the live-entertainment sphere’s ample competition.
“People want personalized travel experiences built around what they are passionate about, and Pollen is at the forefront of this demand; we use our proprietary data and customer insights to build one-of-a-kind travel experiences with the world’s biggest talent and brands in the best destinations,” said the Lets Go Group founder Negus-Fancey.
“When people look back after 10 years, and think about their top five memories, we want them to feel like Pollen was responsible for three of them,” he finished.
Amid the aforementioned (ongoing) comeback throughout the wider crowd-based entertainment space, “IRL” concert platform Fever completed a $227 million Goldman-led round to kick off the year, touting the advantages of enabling fans to enjoy “thrilling and well-curated IRL events.”
It’s worth noting in conclusion that over 18 months have passed since Universal Music Group revealed a collection of “music-based experiential hotel properties,” while plans to convert the original Kalamazoo, Michigan, Gibson guitar factory into a Hard Rock hotel came to light about 13 months ago.