Online ticket-booking platform BookMyShow has announced a strategic investment in AtomX, a Pune-based payments technology company for an undisclosed amount. With this investment, BookMyShow will provide customers an enhanced cashless experience for a host of on-ground events. This is part of BMS’ larger strategy to strengthen its presence in the out-of-home entertainment segment, right from ticketing to producing and managing on-ground operations across various live entertainment experiences.
The investment will allow BookMyShow to seamlessly enable AtomX’s cashless payments platform and solutions on Near Field Communication (NFC) cards, wristbands, key chains which consumers can use for digital payments at music festivals, sporting events, food festivals and concerts amongst others. The solution enables users to store cash in the form of digital money in their NFC chip and simply tap and pay, to buy food, beverages and merchandise instantly, allowing them to enjoy the experience wholly without worrying about losing their money.
“As we broaden the out-of-home entertainment ecosystem, we continue to improve every aspect of that customer journey. This includes safer and smoother digital transactions both, while buying tickets and for on-ground services. We also strive to provide relevant data analytics, insights around events to vendors and organizers to better deliver the experience to our customers. Our partnership with AtomX will play an instrumental role in furthering this experience,” Ashish Hemrajani, Founder and CEO, BookMyShow said in a statement.
AtomX’s solution can be used by vendors and consumers alike, allowing data to be stored on the card itself. This resolves the challenge of low internet connectivity at outdoor events which typically result in a broken experience, on-ground.
“We are extremely excited about the contactless technology penetration in India and the future of India as it rapidly moves towards a cashless society. We are looking to unify both online and offline payments, enabling live entertainment events to accept contactless bank issued cards beyond our close loop tags which offer users multiple options to tap and pay at all our live events. BookMyShow is the leader in India's online entertainment landscape and we are thrilled to be associated with them to tap synergies more efficiently. We have an exciting year planned ahead and we hope to achieve much greater user traction with BookMyShow on board as our investor,” Abhilash Gowdara, Founder and CEO, AtomX said.
The investment will see BookMyShow’s Anil Makhija join AtomX’s Board of Directors. Anil leads the operations and service delivery verticals at BMS, while also overseeing deployment of new on-ground technologies at the firm.