Pollen operates a technology-driven platform that creates and sells curated travel and destination experiences, combining music, sports, wellness and local activities. Its offerings include Pollen Presents, which creates exclusive itineraries around talent and brands, and Pollen+, which enhances festival and event bookings. The company partners with major artists and brands — examples cited include J Balvin, Justin Bieber and Duran Duran — and with festival and promoter partners such as Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo and Live Nation. Pollen uses proprietary data and customer insights to design one-of-a-kind, immersive itineraries that feature leading hotels, venues, restaurants, nightclubs and local activities. The business reported significant momentum: sales increased more than 300% relative to pre-pandemic levels, and the company emphasizes scaling its curated travel experiences. Pollen highlights a culture aimed at attracting senior talent from companies like Instagram, Deliveroo and Klarna to support growth. Pollen (formerly Verve) operates a members-only platform that markets tickets and experiences through a network of 35,000 "Ambassadors" who promote events to close social circles. The company negotiates ticket allocations with some 500 event partners (including Live Nation, MGM Resorts, TAO, Hakkasan, AEG & C3) and integrates with sellers like Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Priceline, StubHub and SeeTickets. Membership is free but restricted to people who influence peers; Ambassadors earn non-cash rewards for shifting sales while Pollen takes a roughly 10–20% cut on sales. Since founding in 2014 the startup has sold about 1 million experiences (330,000 this year) and reported "tens of millions" in revenue across roughly 20 countries, focused on a 16–28 demographic. Pollen is expanding beyond music and club nights into sports, travel and festivals and recently acquired Lifestylez to grow its ski- and snowboard-trip offering aimed at college students.

Total raised

$210M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Apr 2022