Tixr, the largest, fastest-growing, privately-held primary ticketing and live event commerce marketplace, today announced the expansion of the company’s operations in Canada, appointing industry veteran Stéphane McGarry to lead its efforts in the region. In this newly created role, McGarry will spearhead the company’s strategic Canadian expansion, building upon the company’s already robust roster of partners in the territory and explosive growth in the global market.
The tech-forward company already has a growing business throughout Canada, notably the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, New City Gas, Sonic Unyon, and Sonic Concerts. Key recent signings include Cowboys Music Festival, Stereo Nightclub, Game Con Canada, and Athletics Canada, which all selected Tixr for its flexible and modern e-commerce technology for live events and ability to expand the touchpoints with fans beyond traditional ticketing.
McGarry comes to Tixr from AudienceView, formerly Vendini, a ticketing software provider, where he was Vice President of Sales, providing strategic growth strategy to the partnerships team. Before that, he was President of Canada for Crowtorch which was acquired by Cvent. Cvent was acquired by Vendini in 2016 which was bought by AudienceView in 2019. McGarry began his career as a concert promoter, producing more than 250 shows at Donald K Donald Events and rising to the position of Vice President at the company.
“Stéphane’s track record speaks volumes. Not only has he established enduring relationships with clients and led operations to excellence in music, sports, and beyond, but his character and reputation precede him as a standout individual within our industry,” said Robert Davari, Co-Founder and CEO of Tixr. “He’s consistently added value to every organization he’s touched, and collaborating with him has been on my agenda for years. Stéphane is, without question, the right leader to drive our expansion and oversee our operations in Canada.”
“There’s no denying that Tixr has the most modern tech stack and the best UX in the business, on top of an amazing company culture,” said McGarry. “The growth opportunities in Canada are immense with this stellar team and the versatility of our product which can service such a wide array of complex event types — and do it well.”
McGarry will lead a robust team of executives in Canada:
● Mitch Forster – Senior Director of Partnerships
● Nicholas Vincent – Director of Partnerships
● Alex Wait – Manager of Partnerships Operations
● Jasmine Hirsch – Client Success Manager
Tixr has experienced rapid recent growth as demand for its tech-forward product has reached an all-time high. Ranked #25 on Andreesen Horowitz’s a16z Marketplace 100: 2023 list and #12 on Inc. 5000 Regionals: 2024 Pacific list, Tixr exclusively powers more than 500 of the most respected live entertainment brands in 40 countries. Since its inception, Tixr has processed over $1 billion in transactions through its highly visual, modern, unified commerce platform built for sales beyond admission tickets.
The announcement is an organic move for the Santa Monica-based company whose rapid growth is a result of its speed in releasing products to market, modern architecture, and best-in-class technology solutions built for flexibility, efficiency, risk mitigation, yield management, and a better overall fan experience.
Built from the ground up, the Tixr platform solves complex legacy challenges that have long plagued the live events industry with a robust, sophisticated feature set that supports reserved seating, all-in pricing, waitlisting, price breakdowns, payment plans, peer-to-peer marketing, behavioral pricing, and more. The company also believes its partners own and control their data and should have the tools and agency to fully customize a purchase experience that reflects the aesthetic of their individual events.
