Entering the ticketing space to fix one of the live events industry’s most persistent problems, Egypt-based KNOT Technologies has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to scale its AI-native ticketing and access control infrastructure, as it takes aim at fraud, unregulated ticket resale, and the long-standing lack of visibility faced by event organizers.
The funding round was led by venture capital firm A15, underscoring growing investor confidence in data-driven solutions for the global events economy.
Founded in 2025 by Ahmed Abdalla and Hussein ElBendak, KNOT positions itself not merely as another ticketing platform, but as a foundational technology layer designed to restore trust, transparency, and economic value to how tickets are distributed and managed.
What Is KNOT Technologies?
KNOT Technologies is an AI-native ticketing startup built to modernize how events manage ticket sales, access control, and attendee engagement.
Unlike traditional ticketing systems that primarily focus on sales and entry, KNOT embeds artificial intelligence at the core of its infrastructure to govern how tickets are issued, transferred, and tracked throughout their lifecycle.
Founded in 2025 by Ahmed Abdalla, who serves as CEO, and Hussein ElBendak, the company’s CTO, KNOT is designed to serve event organizers, venues, and fans through a more secure and data-driven ecosystem.
The company believes that ticketing should not be a fragmented process riddled with inefficiencies, but a transparent system where value flows back to legitimate stakeholders rather than disappearing into informal markets.
What Problem Are They Solving?
According to KNOT, the global ticketing industry has suffered from a decade-long structural failure that leaves organizers blind to real demand while exposing fans to fraud and inflated resale prices.
Tickets frequently end up in unregulated secondary markets, where profits are siphoned away from organizers and artists, and consumers are left vulnerable to scams.
As CEO Ahmed Abdalla bluntly puts it, “Ticketing has become a financial black hole, with value leaking into unregulated channels and no modern tools to prevent it.” He adds that “organizers lack visibility and control and fans are paying the price.”
KNOT frames this challenge not merely as a market inefficiency, but as a data failure, one that prevents event owners from understanding who is buying tickets, how demand is evolving, and where value is being lost.
What Is KNOT’s Solution?
KNOT’s answer is a dedicated AI layer that sits at the heart of ticketing operations. This system authenticates user identity, governs ticket distribution, and tracks demand in real time.
By doing so, it enables event owners to restrict unauthorized transfers, reduce illegal resale, and regain control over how tickets circulate.
The startup’s technology is designed to close the loopholes that allow tickets to leak into secondary markets, while also creating a more transparent and accountable relationship between organizers and attendees.
This infrastructure approach means KNOT is not just selling tickets, but reshaping the rules that govern how tickets behave.
KNOT’s Stance on Artificial Intelligence
For KNOT, artificial intelligence is not an add-on feature but the core enabler of its vision.
The company believes that only AI can process the scale of data required to monitor demand patterns, authenticate identities, and enforce distribution rules in real time.
By automating these processes, KNOT aims to eliminate human bottlenecks and outdated systems that have failed to keep pace with the modern events economy.
Looking beyond ticketing, CTO Hussein ElBendak highlights the broader implications of the technology, noting that “as we scale, the underlying technology has the potential to create value far beyond ticketing.”
This suggests that KNOT sees its AI infrastructure as adaptable to other access-controlled environments where trust, identity, and data integrity are critical.
What’s Next for KNOT Technologies?
With fresh capital in hand, KNOT plans to expand product development, scale internationally, and deepen integrations across the live events ecosystem.
The company is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer that powers the next generation of events, enabling organizers, venues, and fans to interact through secure, seamless, and data-driven experiences.
Rather than competing only at the platform level, KNOT’s long-term ambition is to sit beneath the industry, quietly powering how events operate at scale.
Why This Matters to Fans and Organizers
For fans, KNOT’s approach promises fewer scams, fairer access to tickets, and greater confidence that what they purchase is legitimate.
For organizers, it offers real-time visibility into demand, tighter control over distribution, and a way to reclaim revenue currently lost to unregulated resale markets.
In an industry where trust has steadily eroded, KNOT is betting that data, transparency, and AI-driven governance can restore balance.
As Abdalla explains, the company was founded “to unlock real economic value and rebuild trust between businesses and their customers.”
If successful, KNOT’s model could mark a significant shift in how live events are priced, protected, and experienced worldwide.
Talking Points
KNOT Technologies is entering the ticketing space with a compelling and timely proposition, particularly as fraud, uncontrolled resale, and poor demand visibility continue to undermine trust across the live events ecosystem.
Its decision to treat ticketing as a data and governance problem, rather than merely a sales function, shows a strong understanding of where legacy platforms have failed.
The AI-native approach to identity authentication and distribution control is strategically sound and could meaningfully reduce value leakage into unregulated resale markets if executed at scale.
However, the company’s long-term impact will depend on adoption by major organizers and venues, where resistance to switching costs and entrenched incumbents remains high.
There are also open questions around user privacy, interoperability with existing ticketing systems, and whether AI-driven controls might face regulatory or consumer pushback if perceived as overly restrictive.
Still, with fresh capital, a clear infrastructure-level vision, and a focus on rebuilding trust between organizers and fans, KNOT positions itself as a serious challenger in a market that is overdue for structural innovation.
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