Data Thistle
Data Thistle is a UK-based B2B data company that aggregates and licences live event listings from approximately 12,000 venues and 500,000+ future performances, serving transport operators, hotels, destination marketing organisations, and media companies via API, bespoke feeds, demand forecasting, and distribution integrations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1985
- HeadquartersEdinburgh, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Data Thistle does
Data Thistle is a UK-based B2B data company that aggregates, organises, and licences live event listings — covering music, comedy, theatre, sport, cinema, and more — from approximately 12,000 venues across the country, representing over 500,000 future performances at any given time. The company's operations trace to 1985 when it was founded as The List (list.co.uk); in 2022 the consumer-facing brand was sold and the business rebranded as Data Thistle to focus exclusively on data licensing. The core platform sources listings directly from venue box offices and ticketing platforms, then normalises and distributes them via an Events API (api.datathistle.com), bespoke data feeds, embeddable widgets, and RSS feeds, in JSON, XML, and CSV formats.
The product portfolio extends beyond raw listing delivery to include Demand Forecasting (predictive modelling of where, when, and how many people will be present for upcoming events), Alerting (event-impact notifications), and a Distribution Network that syndicates listings to partner platforms reaching an audience of approximately 7 million people each month. Data Thistle's technology is integrated with major enterprise and sector platforms including Snowflake, Simpleview, Destination Core, Element Suite, and the Rail Delivery Group's Rail Data Marketplace.
The business model is centred on subscription-style data licensing sold primarily through enterprise sales motions ('Request a demo' / 'Get in touch' CTAs) to four primary verticals: transport operators (rail and bus companies using events for demand forecasting and disruption planning), hotels and accommodation providers (occupancy and revenue management), destination marketing organisations (visitor attraction content), and media companies ('What's On' guides and affiliate ticketing revenues). Secondary segments include smart cities (congestion and resource planning), research/academia, event promoters and venues (free supply-side listing), and real estate. Pricing is custom and not publicly disclosed; event promoters list for free, creating a two-sided market where supply is incentivised by reach and demand is monetised through enterprise licences.
Data Thistle firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Data Thistle
- Legal name
- Data Thistle
- Website
- https://datathistle.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1985
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Data Thistle is a UK-based B2B data company that aggregates and licences live event listings from approximately 12,000 venues and 500,000+ future performances, serving transport operators, hotels, destination marketing organisations, and media companies via API, bespoke feeds, demand forecasting, and distribution integrations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Data Thistle industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Live Events Data
- NAICS
- Directory and Mailing List Publishers (513140), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Information (51)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Local & City Guide Content Aggregators (MPACAKAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Data Sharing, Data Exchange & Data Marketplace Platforms (HDAEABAH), News & Content Aggregation Portals (BPAMAAAI)
Keywords
Where Data Thistle is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Edinburgh
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Data Thistle business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Data Licensing: Licensing of live events data to businesses including transport operators, hotels, destination marketing organisations, and media companies. Data is provided via API access, bespoke feeds, and various formats (JSON, XML, CSV).
- Data Distribution for Publishers: Distribution of event listings to publishers and destination websites, powering 'What's On' guides across print and digital platforms. Generates affiliate ticketing revenues for media partners.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Data Thistle product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Data Thistle aggregates, organises, and distributes the UK's largest set of live event listings data, covering approximately 12,000 venues and over 500,000 future performances. The company delivers this data to enterprise customers (transport operators, destination marketing organisations, hotels, media companies, and smart cities) primarily through an Events API, bespoke data feeds, demand forecasting, alerting, and embeddable widgets. Data is sourced directly from venue box offices and ticketing platforms and delivered in multiple formats (JSON, XML, CSV) to support demand forecasting, service planning, content production, and visitor attraction.
Product overview
Data Thistle is the UK's leading live events data business operating as a unified platform with multiple data delivery products. The core offering includes an Events API providing programmatic access to live event listings across music, comedy, theatre, sport, and more, supplemented by value-added modules including Bespoke Feeds (tailored data feeds), Demand Forecasting (predictive analytics for future demand), Alerting (impactful event notifications), Widgets (embeddable listings), and RSS Feeds. The platform tracks over half a million future performances across approximately 12,000 UK venues, distributing data in multiple formats (JSON, XML, CSV) to publishers, transport operators, hotels, destination marketing organisations, and smart cities. The company was rebranded from 'The List' (founded 1985) to Data Thistle in 2022.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Events API Programmatic live events listings API providing developers and enterprises access to the UK's largest set of event data across music, comedy, theatre, sport, cinema, and more, available in JSON, XML, and CSV formats for integration into third-party applications.
- Bespoke Feeds Tailored data feeds customised to exact client specifications, delivered to enterprise customers needing live event listings in formats tailored to their operational and integration requirements.
- Demand Forecasting Predictive analytics service helping businesses understand future demand by showing where people are going to be, when they will be there, and in what numbers, based on the company's live events database.
- Alerting Notification service that delivers impactful event announcements to clients whose operations, services, or venues are affected by significant events, enabling proactive response and planning.
- Widgets Embeddable event widgets for partner websites (available at widgets.datathistle.com), allowing publishers and destination sites to display live event listings directly on their digital platforms.
- RSS Feeds RSS syndication feeds for automated event content distribution to partner platforms, enabling seamless integration of event listings into external sites and applications.
- Event Listings Distribution Core distribution service distributing event information across media organisations, transport companies, destination marketing organisations, and other platforms, reaching an audience of over 7 million people monthly for content and affiliate ticketing.
Quantifiable outcome
- Data distribution reaches over 7 million people every month
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Data Thistle
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Data Thistle technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature5 records
Data Thistle partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- SnowflakecoreSnowflake integration allows Data Thistle's event data to be accessible within Snowflake's data cloud platform, enabling enterprise customers to incorporate live events data into their analytics workflows.
- SimpleviewcoreIntegration with Simpleview's destination marketing platform enables seamless distribution of event listings to tourism and destination marketing organisations.
- Destination CorecoreIntegration with Destination Core provides destination marketing organisations access to Data Thistle's event listings for tourism promotion.
- Element SuitecoreElement Suite integration enables event data delivery to customers using the Element Suite platform for venue and events management.
- Rail Delivery GroupcoreRail Delivery Group integration, part of the Rail Data Marketplace initiative, provides rail operators with access to event data for transport planning and demand forecasting.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Data Thistle competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Skiddle: UK-focused events listing and ticketing platform that aggregates gigs, club nights, festivals, and theatre. Direct competitor in the same UK live events data and listings market, with overlapping customer base of promoters, venues, and consumers.
- PredictHQ: Global demand intelligence platform built around events data APIs sold to enterprises for forecasting, similar in API-first delivery and enterprise B2B customers (transport, hospitality, retail) seeking demand forecasting.
- Songkick: Concert discovery platform aggregating live music events and ticketing — comparable in aggregating live performance data, distributing via consumer-facing apps and partner integrations.
- Bandsintown: Artist-event tracking and ticketing recommendation service with an API offering event data to partners. Comparable in artist-and-venue event aggregation and dataset licensing to third parties.
- Resident Advisor (RA): Global electronic music events listing and ticketing platform with a curated event database, 'RA Picks', and ticketing affiliate revenue. Overlaps with Data Thistle's listings and ticketing distribution model, particularly for live entertainment in the UK.
Broad incumbents
- Eventbrite: Large global events marketplace with ticketing and event discovery. Overlaps on the events data side but operates a fundamentally broader self-serve ticketing business; not a UK specialist like Data Thistle.
- Time Out Group: Global media brand publishing city guides and 'Things to Do' content fed by event listings. Highly comparable legacy competitor to Data Thistle's role powering 'What's On' guides for publishers, though now broader in scope.
- Ticketmaster / Live Nation: Dominant global ticketing platform with an extensive events database distributed through its discovery sites and partner network. Comparable on event data scale and distribution, but vertically integrated into ticketing — a key competitive and supply-side dynamic for Data Thistle.
Emerging players
- Fever: Experiences/events discovery and ticketing platform active across major cities, with a curated local events marketplace. Comparable on local-events aggregation and consumer distribution, though owned-and-operated rather than data-licensing.
- Meetup: Consumer-facing events discovery platform with a developer API supplying structured event data. Comparable API-first events data distribution, though focused on smaller community meetups rather than large live entertainment.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Data Thistle social profiles
Digital presenceData Thistle financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Data Thistle leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Data Thistle funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Data Thistle M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Data Thistle
What does Data Thistle do?
Data Thistle aggregates, organises, and distributes the UK's largest set of live event listings data, covering approximately 12,000 venues and over 500,000 future performances. The company delivers this data to enterprise customers (transport operators, destination marketing organisations, hotels, media companies, and smart cities) primarily through an Events API, bespoke data feeds, demand forecasting, alerting, and embeddable widgets. Data is sourced directly from venue box offices and ticketing platforms and delivered in multiple formats (JSON, XML, CSV) to support demand forecasting, service planning, content production, and visitor attraction.
Is Data Thistle a public or private company?
Data Thistle is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Data Thistle founded?
Data Thistle was founded in 1985. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Data Thistle based?
Data Thistle is headquartered in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Data Thistle make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Data Licensing is the primary driver. The others are data Distribution for Publishers.
Who are Data Thistle's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Skiddle, PredictHQ, Songkick, Bandsintown and Resident Advisor (RA). Broad incumbents are Eventbrite, Time Out Group and Ticketmaster / Live Nation. Emerging players are Fever and Meetup.
Does Data Thistle have an API?
Yes. Live events listings API available to developers. Supports multiple data formats including JSON and XML for consuming event data. Events are distributed in easy-to-use formats for use across multiple sectors. Developer documentation is at api.datathistle.com.
What industry is Data Thistle in?
Data Thistle's product category is Live Events Data. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAKAJ, Local & City Guide Content Aggregators, with a secondary code of HDAEABAH, Data Sharing, Data Exchange & Data Marketplace Platforms. Its NAICS code is 513140 and its SIC code is 7374.