BookMyShow invests in Pune-based payments technology company AtomX

The online ticketing portal intends to gain access to best-in-class cashless technologies to enhance on-ground user experience at live events through the investment

Online ticketing portal BookMyShow has made a strategic investment in AtomX, a Pune-based payments technology company. With this investment, BookMyShow will be able to provide customers an enhanced cashless experience for on-ground events. The company also hopes to further strengthen its position in the market for out-of-home entertainment across ticketing, producing and managing on-ground operations for live entertainment experience through this investment.

Commenting on the investment, Abhilash Gowdara, Founder & CEO, AtomX, said, “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."

Investing in AtomX will allow BookMyShow to seamlessly enable the tech company’s cashless payments platform and solutions on Near Field Communication (NFC) cards, wristbands, key chains which consumers can use for digital payments at events like music festivals, sporting events, food festivals and concerts. 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

“BookMyShow has always obsessed over its customers. 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,” said Ashish Hemrajani, founder and CEO, BookMyShow.

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.

“As India’s leading destination for all out-of-home entertainment experiences, BookMyShow truly believes that the experience lasts much after the event. It is this user journey - from the ticketing process until on-ground execution - that we are constantly looking to improve and enhance. A smooth venue operation for any event, relies significantly on technology and our investment in AtomX underlines BookMyShow’s aim to provide an unparalleled customer experience,” added Anil Makhija, COO - venues & service delivery, BookMyShow.

The investment will see Makhija join AtomX’s board of directors. He comes with an experience of over three decades across various roles in technology firms before he moved to BookMyShow where he leads the operations and service delivery verticals, while also overseeing deployment of new on-ground technologies at the firm.