Event platform Posh raised a fresh $37 million to solve one of the quintessential “tarpit” startup ideas: turning the “what are we doing tonight?” group chat into an actual plan.
Founded in 2019 by then‑New York University students Avante Price and Eli Taylor‑Lemire, Posh began as software they built to run their own events after getting cheated by promoters and hitting the limits of Eventbrite. “I was using Eventbrite and other products to manage events, and then realized that the technology components were missing a ton of the capabilities that I needed,” Price told Fortune. That pain point became Posh’s product: a business‑first platform where organizers, not the marketplace, sit at the center. The company is already capturing corners of the events industry which is on track to be worth more than $2 trillion by 2028.
Now, the company has raised its $37 million Series B led by FirstMark Capital with Causeway Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Companyon Ventures, and Epic Ventures, Fortune has exclusively learned.
Posh’s model is straightforward: Posh takes about a 10% cut on paid tickets plus a 99‑cent fee per ticket, its primary revenue stream. In 2024, the company generated roughly $10 million in revenue on more than $83 million in ticket sales (the same year it raised $22 million in Series A funding). Today, the business has grown to an estimated $40 million in cumulative revenue, according to Price, processing $350 million in GMV and 25 million tickets since inception, with top organizers generating over $10 million on the platform. “What you have to do is you have to own the transaction first,” Price told Fortune.
Posh already powers everything from Palm Tree Festival and We Belong Here to brand activations with Lamborghini, Adidas, the NBA, Celsius, HBO, and Complex. The company has also poached talent from Meta, Reddit, Amazon, Hinge, Spotify, Block, and Canva to accomplish its goals. For the first four years, Posh was essentially “Shopify for events,” focused on tooling for nightlife: white‑label pages, SMS CRM, referral kickbacks, linked ticket tiers, and instant payouts. Now, with roughly 50,000 organizers and nearly 8 million users, the center of gravity has shifted toward demand—what Price calls a “Netflix‑style feed” that surfaces parties, activities, food and drink, and other categories based on where your broader social graph is actually going.
“The solved problem is your core group chat,” he says. “The harder problem is those 10 or 20 people you’d love to catch up with but never text. We’re trying to reintroduce that serendipity.”
See you tomorrow,
Lily Mae Lazarus
X: @LilyMaeLazarus
Email: lily.lazarus@fortune.com
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VENTURE CAPITAL
- XBOW, a Seattle, Wash.-based autonomous offensive cybersecurity platform, raised $120 million in Series C funding. DFJ Growth and Northzone led the round and was joined by Alkeon Capital and Sofina and existing investors.
- Crossbow Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company developing antibody therapies designed to treat cancers, raised $77 million in Series B funding. Taiho Ventures and Arkin Bio Capital led the round and were joined by Sixty Degree Capital, Hamilton Square Partners Management, LifeLink Ventures, Libbs Ventures, and others.
- Beautiful.ai, a San Francisco-based AI-powered presentation making platform, raised $45 million from General Catalyst.
- Paraform, a San Francisco-based AI-powered recruiting platform, raised $40 million in Series B funding. ScaleVP led the round and was joined by Felicis, A*, and Liquid 2.
- Edra, a New York City and London, U.K.-based developer of AI technology designed to learn how enterprise teams work and automate their workflows, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Sequoia led the round.
- Corridor, a San Francisco-based AI coding security startup, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by Conviction, Timeless, Artisanal Ventures, Lux Capital, Sunflower Capital, Datadog, and SV Angel.
- RAVEN, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based cybersecurity company, raised $20 million in funding, including a seed rund led by Norwest and post-seed funding led by Elron Ventures.
- Cocoon Carbon, a London, U.K.-based cement replacement materials company, raised $15 million Series A funding. 2150 and Brick & Mortar Ventures led the round and were joined by TVC and others.
- Rivia, a Zurich, Germany-based developer of a data engine designed for clinical trial intelligence, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Earlybird led the round and was joined by Defiant and existing investors.
- Manifold, a San Diego, Calif.-based AI detection and response platform, raised $8 million in seed funding. Costanoa Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors.
- Obin AI, a New York City-based developer of agentic AI technology for financial workflows, raised $7 million in seed funding. Motive Partners led the round and was joined by Fei-Fei Li and Lukasz Kaiser.
- VerbaFlo, a London, U.K.-based developer of conversational AI designed for customer interaction, raised $7 million in seed funding. Pi Labs led the round and was joined by Haatch, Navigate Ventures, Old College Capital, and others.
- Reson8, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based speech technology company, raised €5 million ($5.7 million) in pre-seed funding. Balderton Capital led the round and was joined by NP Hard.
- Respan, a San Francisco-based AI observability platform, raised $5 million in funding from Gradient Y Combinator, Hat-Trick Capital, XIAOXIAO FUND, Antigravity Capital, Alpen Capital, and angel investors.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- JF Group, backed by MidOcean Partners, acquired Midwest Petroleum Equipment, a Lincoln, Nebraska-based petroleum equipment and services company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Tech24, a portfolio company of Vestar Capital Partners and HCI Equity Partners, acquired Pacific Standard Service, an Albany, Calif.-based commercial cooking equipment company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
PEOPLE
- Behrman Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm, appointed Eric Smith as an operating partner.
- Oak HC/FT, a Stamford, Conn.-based venture capital firm, hired Marc Andrusko as a partner on the firm’s fintech investment team.
