Eventbrite's Planned IPO Reveals Tension in Global Event Marketplace

Consumer ticketing giant Eventbrite's long-awaited initial public offering is moving forward after a period in which the San Francisco-based company drove revenue growth in an extremely crowded global market. Eventbrite's dual strengths are its simplicity for clients to sell and market event tickets while acting as a marketplace and point-of-sale for consumers. It takes a small percentage of each ticket sold and a small flat fee as well when it processes payments. Founded in 2006, Eventbrite has raised $332.3 million in a variety of funding rounds. Since then, they've removed many of the legacy roadblocks to effectively managing and marketing events. The company plans to raise $200 million through its IPO, and trade under the symbol "EB," according to the company's S-1 filing. The company has not listed a share price yet, or specified when it will actually go public. Speculation has been that it will be before the end of the year. Part of the problem for Eventbrite going forward, which is evident from the filing, is that most of the company's growth has been counter-balanced by increased spending. Eventbrite posted a net loss of $40.4 million in 2016 and $38.5 million in 2017, and doesn't expect its strong revenue increases stemming from acquisitions to nece