What Ticket Star does

Ticket Star, legally incorporated as 楽天チケット株式会社 (Rakuten Ticket Co., Ltd.), is a Japan-based, privately held subsidiary of Rakuten Group that operates a multi-vertical ticket distribution and management business. The company is headquartered at Rakuten Crimson House in Setagaya, Tokyo, with registered capital of 100 million yen, and serves both consumer and business buyers in the Japanese live-events market. Its consumer-facing core product is Rakuten Ticket, an online marketplace where individual buyers purchase primary tickets for sports, concerts, theater, and other live events, with Rakuten Super Points and cross-promotion across Rakuten Ichiba, Books, and Travel serving as the primary acquisition and retention levers.

The underlying technology is the Tikesta System, an ASP-delivered ticket management and sales administration platform. Ticket Star markets this same platform externally to third-party event promoters, while also using it internally for Rakuten Ticket and for its own outsourced managed-ticket operations, including year-round ticketing for Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (baseball) and Vissel Kobe (soccer) and event-level work for entertainment clients such as Cirque du Soleil. Two additional product surfaces extend the platform: Ticket Exchange, an officially event-authorized secondary marketplace for fan-to-fan ticket resale, and a B2B consulting practice that applies data-driven analysis to demand diagnosis, seating design, and pricing strategy.

Ticket Star monetizes through five distinct revenue streams: transaction fees and commissions on Rakuten Ticket primary sales, managed-services fees for outsourced ticketing operations, marketplace commissions on secondary sales via Ticket Exchange, recurring ASP subscription revenue from the Tikesta System platform sold to event promoters, and professional-services fees from the consulting practice. Distribution is anchored in the Rakuten e-commerce ecosystem for consumers and in direct enterprise sales plus ASP platform licensing for event organizers, with operations confined to Japan under a Secondhand Goods Business License issued by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police (license 第303271904768号).

Name

Ticket Star

Legal name

楽天チケット株式会社

Website

https://ticketstar.jp

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ticket Star (Rakuten Ticket Co., Ltd.) is a Rakuten Group subsidiary that operates Rakuten Ticket—an online primary ticketing marketplace for sports, concerts, and theater in Japan—alongside outsourced ticket management, ASP platform licensing, an authorized secondary marketplace (Ticket Exchange), and data-driven consulting services for event organizers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Ticketing Services

NAICS

All Other Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services (561599), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (711310)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Primary Ticketing Platforms & Box Office Systems (MPAGAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Ticketing Platforms & Primary Ticketing (MPAIAFAD), Pricing, Yield Management & Anti-Fraud Services (MPAGAJAH), Live Event Ticketing (Concerts, Festivals, Comedy) (HSACALAA)

Keywords

• Online ticket sales
• Event ticketing platform
• Secondary ticket market
• ASP ticketing system
• Event consulting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Setagaya

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Online Ticket Sales Commission: Operates Rakuten Ticket as an online ticket sales service for sports, concerts, theater, and various events, generating revenue through ticket transaction fees and commissions within the Rakuten ecosystem.
2. Ticket Management Services: Provides ticket management operations for professional sports (baseball, soccer) and various events, including on-site event day operations, delegated运营 of ticket management business.
3. Ticket Exchange (Secondary Market): Operates official event-authorized secondary ticket marketplace 'Ticket Exchange' matching buyers and sellers of tickets, generating commission from transactions.
4. Platform ASP Services: Provides ticket management and sales management system (チケスタシステム) as ASP service to event promoters for operational efficiency and direct ticket sales.
5. Consulting Services: Offers consulting services to sports teams and event promoters for optimizing event revenue through demand diagnosis, event design, seating arrangements, and pricing strategies based on quantitative and qualitative data analysis.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Ticket Star operates an end-to-end online ticketing business centered on the Rakuten Ticket platform, selling tickets on behalf of event organizers to consumers. It also provides the Tikesta System ASP platform and ticket management services to event promoters, sports teams, and venues, and operates a Ticket Exchange secondary marketplace, supplemented by consulting services to organizers. The combined offering covers primary ticket sales, secondary resale, on-site management, and strategic advisory across the live events industry.

Product overview

Ticket Star operates as a comprehensive ticket distribution and management company with a platform-plus-services architecture. The core offering is 'Rakuten Ticket,' an online ticket sales platform serving sports, concerts, theater, and events within the Rakuten Group ecosystem. Supporting this core platform is the 'チケスタシステム' (Tikesta System), a ticket management and sales administration platform offered via ASP to event promoters. The company also operates a secondary ticket marketplace called 'チケット・エクスチェンジ' (Ticket Exchange) for fan-to-fan ticket resales, provides ticket management outsourcing services, and offers consulting services to optimize event revenue through data-driven analysis of demand, pricing, and seating.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• チケット・エクスチェンジ (Ticket Exchange): Official secondary ticket marketplace matching buyers and sellers of event tickets, operating as an authorized market platform for event promoters.

Products and services

• Rakuten Ticket (楽天チケット) Online ticket sales platform that distributes tickets on behalf of event organizers, sports teams, and venues to individual consumers in Japan. Integrated with Rakuten ID and Rakuten Pay for authentication and checkout.
• Tikesta System (チケスタシステム) ASP (Application Service Provider) platform that provides event organizers, sports teams, and venues with ticket sales, seat allocation, and management functionality delivered as a hosted service.
• Ticket Exchange (チケット・エクスチェンジ) Secondary ticket marketplace where individual ticket holders can resell tickets to other consumers, operated under a Second-hand Goods Business License from the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission.
• Ticket Sales Agency (チケット販売取次事業) Ticket sales agency service in which Ticket Star acts as an agent selling tickets on behalf of event organizers and ticket holders.
• Ticket Management Business (チケット管理事業) Managed service for ticket administration and on-site operations provided to event organizers and venues as part of the company's B2B service offering.
• Consulting Services (コンサルティングサービス) Advisory consulting service for event promoters, sports teams, and venues, covering ticketing operations, sales strategy, and management best practices.

Quantifiable outcome

• Ticket revenue increased 15% for professional sports client after implementing consulting recommendations on seating charts and pricing revisions

Named customers3 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

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• 楽天グループ (Rakuten Group)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTicket Star operates as part of Rakuten Group, operating Rakuten Ticket as the group's ticket sales service. Benefits include access to Rakuten ecosystem (Rakuten Ichiba, Books, Travel), Rakuten Super Points program integration, and shared platform infrastructure.
• 株式会社楽天野球団 (Rakuten Baseball Corporation)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent company's professional baseball team operator, enabling Ticket Star to have direct operational experience in event and ticket management. This relationship provides unique insights into event organizer's perspective and needs for service development.
• ヴィッセル神戸 (Vissel Kobe)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorProfessional soccer club for which Ticket Star manages tickets and operations, with dedicated ticketing pages hosted on Ticket Star platform (vissel.tstar.jp).
• 三井住友銀行日比谷支店 (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Hibiya Branch)minorOthersPrimary transaction bank for Ticket Star operations.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• TicketPia (Pia Corporation): One of Japan's largest primary ticketing platforms covering concerts, sports, theater, and events — the most direct head-to-head competitor to Rakuten Ticket in the Japanese consumer ticketing market.
• Peatix: D2C-first ticketing platform popular for SMB events, meetups, and creator-led experiences in Japan and Asia; competes with Rakuten Ticket in the online event-discovery and SMB ticketing space.
• Tixplus: Japanese entertainment-focused ticketing platform serving idol, anime, and music events; competes with Rakuten Ticket for the same concert/fan-event primary ticketing wallet share.
• ePlus: Japanese ticketing and live entertainment operator offering primary sales across sports, music, and theater with promoter services — directly comparable across Ticket Star's primary sales and management lines.
• Lawson Ticket / L-Tike (Lawson Entertainment): Ticketing arm of Lawson, leveraging nationwide convenience-store distribution for ticket sales across sports and entertainment events; a leading Japanese consumer ticketing competitor to Rakuten Ticket.

Broad incumbents

• Eventbrite: Global online ticketing and event platform; comparable in primary ticketing mechanics and self-service promoter tooling, though much larger internationally and less focused on the Japanese pro-sports vertical.
• Live Nation Entertainment (Japan): Global live entertainment major with ticket operations across Japan; overlaps with Ticket Star's primary ticketing and event-day management for concerts and large-scale entertainment events.

Emerging players

• ZAIKO: Japan-headquartered creator-economy ticketing and live-streaming platform; overlaps with Rakuten Ticket on D2C ticketing for music and creator events, with a niche fan-engagement focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Ticket Star