Gewara, an entertainment ticket service, announced $20 million of Series C financing led by CDH Investments (report in Chinese). The company previously received 2 million yuan ($326,590) of Series A financing from Shanda Capital and tens of million yuan in Series B financing from CDH Investments and Shanda Capital.
Gewara started as an online movie ticket seller when founded in 2007. On the website, users can buy tickets at discounts and choose seats, thereby saving money and avoiding lines. Upon their arrival to the theater, the only thing users have to do is to collect the physical tickets from one of the Gewara kiosks located at all major cinemas.
Additionally, the service is connected to the back-end system of cinemas. This move not only speed up the settlement of deals, but also enables movie theaters to check the broadcast schedules of peers and to make adjustments accordingly.
The company has recorded profits in 2012 with a turnover of 470 million yuan, according official data released by the firm. It has inked online ticket purchasing deals with nearly 1,000 cinemas around the country and planned to cover more than 400 cities by the end of this year (source in Chinese).
Gewara also expanded ticket business to performance and sports sectors. Moreover, the company planned to cooperate with movie producers to provide movie promotion services via in-house or third-party channels. Similar domestic services are Komovie, Spider, and Mtime.
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