A new player has entered India’s live entertainment market. thumpN, an AI-native discovery and ticketing platform for live entertainment, has launched with a focus on helping users find live experiences through conversational recommendations rather than traditional search.
Founded by a team with more than two decades of experience in India’s live events business, the platform brings together concerts, comedy, theatre, festivals, nightlife, sports and community events from across the country in a single interface.
The company says the platform is designed to address one of the biggest challenges facing the sector today: event discovery. While India’s live entertainment market continues to expand, audiences often rely on social media, messaging apps and word-of-mouth recommendations to find events, making discovery fragmented for both fans and organisers.
At the centre of the platform is Shadow, a conversational AI agent that recommends events based on user preferences and natural language prompts. Rather than filtering events through keywords, users can ask for recommendations based on budget, location, mood or occasion. The platform says Shadow also learns from user interactions over time to personalise future suggestions.
According to thumpN, the recommendation engine is informed not only by technology but also by inputs from artists, promoters, venue operators and genre specialists across different cities.
Commenting on the launch, Varun Khare, CEO of thumpN, said:
“This started from a simple frustration. Discovery today is fragmented across social feeds, algorithms, WhatsApp groups, and word of mouth. The explosion of India’s live entertainment market, combined with the shift toward conversational and AI-native consumer behaviour, has created an opportunity to rethink discovery from the ground up. We’re building thumpN to feel natural. Fans can ask Shadow for anything from ‘a stand-up show this weekend under ₹1,500’ to ‘something fun for the family on Sunday,’ and the platform understands context, intent, and taste. At the same time, organisers get better infrastructure to grow and strengthen their position. thumpN only succeeds if the ecosystem does.”
The platform also offers tools for event organisers, venues and promoters, including onboarding, audience insights and event management features aimed at improving planning and marketing.
Shreyas Srinivasan, Director and Strategic Advisor at thumpN, said the company had designed the platform around conversational discovery rather than adapting existing search tools.
“Most ticketing platforms layer AI on top of a search bar. We rebuilt the experience to be AI Native. Shadow maintains context, reasons across live experiences throughout and learns your taste over time. The result isn’t a smarter search box, it’s a fundamentally different way to discover live entertainment.”
The company enters a competitive ticketing market at a time when India’s live entertainment industry continues to grow beyond the major metros. According to thumpN, more than 40,000 live events are held annually across 319 Indian cities, creating opportunities for platforms that can improve event discovery for audiences while helping organisers reach new attendees.
Strategic Advisor Alaap Gosher said the long-term opportunity lies in strengthening relationships between audiences and live events.
“Live entertainment has always been about connection – the right fan, the right artist, the right moment. When that connection happens, you get something far more valuable than a ticket sale. You get loyalty, belonging, advocacy. The platforms that help build those relationships, not just sell access to them, will shape the next chapter of India’s live entertainment ecosystem.”
thumpN is now live nationwide and will aggregate events across music, comedy, theatre, festivals, sports, nightlife and community experiences.
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