What Plankton does

Plankton Tickets Proprietary Limited is a South African event technology company headquartered in Pretoria that operates a web-based ticketing platform (plankton.mobi) extended with mobile applications for event discovery and ticket management. The company was incorporated in 2009 under registration number 2009/021479/07 and serves event organizers, promoters, venues, and community managers primarily within South Africa.

The core product is a ticketing engine with access control and real-time reporting, around which Plankton has assembled a modular ecosystem of add-ons including Cashless (card-linked event currency payments), Lead Generation, Coupons & Vouchers, Surveys, App Development, Membership management, Digital Imaging, and IF Stations (interactive tap/action hardware-software modules bridging physical and online communities). Organizers access back-office tooling via a "Backstage" portal, and consumers transact through the public website or branded subdomains (e.g., robbenisland.plankton.mobi, dinokeng.plnktn.io). Payment processing is handled through dual integrations with PayU and PayGate, supporting both Card Present and Card Not Present flows plus a broad set of South African alternative payment methods (Zapper, Snapscan, MasterPass, SID Instant EFT, Discovery Miles, etc.) with 3D Secure authentication and 256-bit SSL encryption.

Plankton monetizes through transaction-based fees on ticket sales (facility, convenience, and service fees), transaction fees on cashless payments, and professional services for enterprise-grade event solutions and bespoke app development. GTM combines a self-serve consumer-facing website with an enterprise field-sales motion for large organizers, supported by organic social, email newsletters, and Facebook Connect for user acquisition. The customer base is distributed across tourism (Robben Island Museum, Dinokeng Game Reserve), food and beverage (Africa Brew Festival, Stellenbosch Wine Festival), horticulture (Plant Fair), and agricultural conference segments, with no disclosed external funding, headcount growth signals, or revenue figures.

Name

Plankton

Legal name

Plankton Tickets Proprietary Limited

Website

https://plankton.mobi

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Plankton is a South African event technology company offering a ticketing platform with cashless payments, access control, lead generation, and add-on modules for event organizers, promoters, venues, and community managers, primarily in South Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Event Ticketing Software

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

All-in-One Event Registration & Event Management Suites (THAHAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Attendee Mobile Apps & Engagement Platforms (THAHAFAE)

Keywords

• Event ticketing platform
• Cashless payment solutions
• Event management software
• Access control systems
• Community engagement tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Pretoria

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Ticketing Transaction Fees: Revenue generated from ticket sales through the platform, including facility fees, convenience fees, and service fees charged per transaction.
2. Cashless System Services: Revenue from providing cashless payment solutions at events, including card management and transaction processing.
3. Enterprise Event Solutions: Customized technology solutions for large event organizers including app development, membership management, and integrated event platforms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Plankton provides an event technology platform that enables event organizers to sell tickets, manage attendee access, process cashless payments, capture leads, distribute coupons, run surveys, and build community memberships. The platform is delivered as a web and mobile solution supporting festivals, exhibitions, tours, conferences, and venue-based events, with white-label subdomain portals and an enterprise 'Backstage' management console for event administrators.

Product overview

Plankton is an event technology platform offering a modular ecosystem centered on a core Ticketing product, supplemented by add-on modules including Lead Generation, Coupons & Vouchers, Surveys, App Development, Cashless, IF Stations, Membership, and Imagery. These offerings are designed to work together, allowing event organizers to build comprehensive community engagement solutions with integrated ticketing, payment, and data collection capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Plankton Backstage: Backstage login portal for event organizers and administrators.
• Plankton Cashless
• Plankton Digital Imaging
• IF Stations

Products and services

• Plankton Ticketing World-class event ticketing platform providing event access control, multi-platform ticket sales, and real-time reporting capabilities for festivals, exhibitions, tours, and conferences. Includes a consumer-facing ticketing portal at plankton.mobi and an enterprise 'Backstage' back-office console for event organizers.
• Plankton Cashless Cashless event currency system that provides safe and manageable digital payment solutions for events, enabling attendees to load funds onto card-linked accounts and make purchases at events without physical cash.
• Plankton Lead Generation Lead generation engine that facilitates lead capture and management opportunities within event communities, enabling organizers to build their customer database and capture attendee data and insights beyond ticket sales.
• Plankton Coupons & Vouchers Digital delivery vehicle for coupons and vouchers, allowing organizers to distribute promotional offers and gift vouchers to community members, supporting community monetization and engagement.
• Plankton Surveys Customizable survey and feedback collection tool for gathering valuable community insights and preferences from event attendees, enabling organizers to understand their audience.
• Plankton App Development Event technology app development service that integrates Plankton's product offerings with monetization tools into a custom event application, targeting large event organizers requiring tailored mobile experiences.
• Plankton IF Stations Interactive tap/action stations that bridge physical and online communities, providing intelligence solutions for event engagement by integrating physical interactions with online community data.
• Plankton Membership Membership management solution enabling organizers to create and manage new membership structures for their communities, supporting community monetization and recurring engagement.
• Plankton Digital Imaging Digital event photography solution providing simple photography capture and delivery services for events and communities, enabling organizers to offer photo-based engagement and revenue.

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• PayUcoreTechnology or IntegrationThird-party payment processor handling all credit card and alternative payments. Processes both card-present (CP) and card-not-present (CNP) transactions with 256-bit SSL encryption. PayU supports multiple payment methods including PayU Wallet, Cell Pay, Discovery Miles, MasterPass, and PayPal.
• PayGatecoreTechnology or IntegrationThird-party payment processor alongside PayU, handling CP and CNP transactions with 256-bit SSL encryption for secure credit card processing and alternative payment methods including SID Instant EFT, SCode, Zapper, Snapscan, and eWallet.
• GoDaddycoreTechnology or IntegrationDomain registrar verifying Plankton.mobi registration documents and domains, providing protection against identity theft. GoDaddy holds TRUSTe's Privacy Seal certification for privacy compliance.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Zapper: South African QR-based mobile payment and loyalty platform integrated into Plankton's cashless stack alongside Snapscan and PayGate. Enabling technology provider for Plankton's event currency solution rather than a direct ticketing competitor.
• PayU: Global payment processor and Plankton's core payment processing partner in South Africa for card and alternative payments. Ecosystem-enabling partner rather than a competitor, but its checkout is increasingly being bundled with event registration features.

Broad incumbents

• Cvent: Enterprise event management platform focused on corporate meetings, conferences, and trade shows with registration, venue sourcing, and attendee engagement. Targets the same enterprise event organizer persona as Plankton's enterprise GTM motion but at much larger accounts.
• Eventbrite: Global self-serve event ticketing and registration platform with consumer marketplace distribution. Operates at much larger scale in many geographies; competes with Plankton for SMB and mid-market event organizers worldwide, including through its Universe brand.
• Ticketmaster: Global primary ticketing platform for large sports, concerts, and live entertainment events with deep enterprise integrations and analytics. Serves the same event organizer demand for ticketing infrastructure but at significantly larger venues and scale.

Direct peers

• Howler: South African event technology platform offering ticketing, cashless payments, and event marketing tooling with strong festival and nightlife exposure. Direct competitor in Plankton's home market with overlapping cashless + ticketing stack.
• Webtickets: Established South African online ticketing platform covering theatre, festivals, sport, and exhibitions with consumer-facing event discovery and promoter-side tools. Direct domestic competitor with similar SMB and consumer-ticketing target audience.
• Quicket: South African event ticketing and management platform serving festivals, expos, and lifestyle events with promoter tools and on-site access control. Most direct head-to-head competitor to Plankton in the same domestic market with similar event types and pricing model.

Emerging players

• Bizzabo: Event experience platform offering registration, agenda, networking, and engagement tools for professional and B2B events. Comparable to the lead generation, surveys, and engagement components of Plankton's add-on suite.
• Eventbrite Universe: Eventbrite-owned independent venue and promoter ticketing service with strong live-event focus, particularly for nightlife and small-to-mid venues. Provides comparable ticketing + promoter tooling to Plankton's client mix and competes for the same event organizer cohort.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/plankton_mobi
• Facebookfacebook.com/Planktonmobi
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ringier-south-africa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Plankton