Ticket startup Accupass gets nod for Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Beijing

When we last checked in with the Taiwanese events and ticketing site Accupass, it had secured funding from DCM and Qualcomm Ventures. Now, despite already being a fully-formed business, the company’s two founders are entering it into the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Beijing.

Co-founder and CEO Benjamin Tzu-Wen Lo tells us that the crew will relocate to Beijing during the incubation period. At the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator they’re keen to learn from in-house Microsoft engineers and meet with investors who drop by to check out the talent.

Benjamin Lo says that Accupass, which was founded in 2011, now has about 800,000 users, with over 3,000 events listed per month. Of those, 35 percent are paid events.

In Taiwan, Accupass is up against rivals such as KKtix, which was built out of KKbox, the popular music-streaming service in the country. In expanding to Hong Kong, Accupass will also run up against the big daddy in this space: Eventbrite.

Asia expansion

Accupass is expanding across the region, with a beta English site in addition to the Chinese version. The team is already spread across offices in Taipei, Beijing, and Shenzhen, with another in Hong Kong being added soon. Then Lo says the company will venture into other Asian markets.

Being in Beijing also brings the crew closer to the startups’s China-only ticketing site, Huodongxing.

The next Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Beijing is only accepting 30 startups from about 450 submissions. They’ll be overseen by 50 mentors.

(Editing by Josh Horwitz)