BookMyShow gets Jungle Ventures backing, shifts regional HQ to Singapore

Bigtree Entertainment Singapore, owner and operator of Indian online ticketing service BookMyShow, received an undisclosed amount of investment from Singapore’s Jungle Ventures to grow its Southeast Asia business. BookMyShow will also be moving its regional headquarters to Singapore as it continues to expand in the region.

Photo credit: Max Pixel

Launched in 2007, BookMyShow offers tickets for movies, theaters, and sports events. It has been focused on creating a movies and live entertainment ecosystem catered to Southeast Asia, according to a statement.

The startup entered Indonesia in mid-2016, and then expanded to other countries in the region such as Singapore and Malaysia this year. It also has operations in Dubai, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand, among others.

With the new funds, BookMyShow looks to bolster its tech operations and grow its capabilities to meet market demands. It aims to expand its geographic footprint across Southeast Asia to become a leading out-of-home entertainment platform in the region.

The company entered into a partnership with regional ride-hailing titan Grab this year, enabling the latter to launch its Tickets feature, which allows users to book movie and event tickets straight from the Grab app. BookMyShow said the partnership has been a driving factor in its localization strategy to further deepen its roots in the region’s entertainment ecosystem.

BookMyShow is one of the companies in the first batch of Grab Ventures’ Velocity accelerator program late last year. The five startups in the batch had their services integrated into the Grab app for a period of six weeks as part of the proof of concept.