UK-based live events app Dice raises $122M Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, source says at a $400M valuation, with Tony Fadell and others participating
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times :
Context & Ripple Effects
Dice's round lands in the middle of SoftBank Vision Fund 2's heaviest deployment stretch — the fund put $22.8B across 65 deals in Q3 2021, the quarter before this one — and it follows the same playbook it used weeks earlier on Manchester-based Peak AI's $75M Series C: leading large late-stage rounds into UK startups rather than following on. For Dice, a live events app, the money arrives as venues and artists reopen their calendars post-pandemic.
The investor list matters as much as the size: Tony Fadell joining a SoftBank-led round gives Dice both capital and product-credibility backing. Related coverage shows the bet had legs — Dice went on to raise a $65M round led by MUSIC in 2023, taking total funding past $200M while scaling to serve 55K+ artists and 10K+ venues.
First-order effects
- Dice gains a $122M war chest at a reported $400M valuation to expand its artist-and-venue network, converting SoftBank Vision Fund 2 from a generalist late-stage backer into a direct stakeholder in live-event ticketing.
Second-order effects
- Rival event-tech startups face pressure to match SoftBank-scale rounds to compete for the same reopened venue market, echoing how Vision Fund 2 simultaneously backed adjacent plays like Firework's $150M raise for livestreamed shopping events.
Third-order effects
- If SoftBank's cadence holds — $22.8B in Q3 2021 followed by two consecutive ~$9.9B quarters — late-stage valuations in UK consumer tech stay inflated by a single allocator's appetite, with ticketing consolidating around the few platforms funded at this scale.
The trend: SoftBank Vision Fund 2's late-2021 deployment spree concentrated outsized growth rounds in UK consumer startups, pulling live-events ticketing into the same capital cycle.