Embracer founder Lars Wingefors, through his company Lars Wingefors AB, is buying into Tickster, the Värmland-based ticketing company that was spun out of the Arvika Festival and is now a leading system supplier to the events industry in Sweden. The size of the stake has not been disclosed.
The Deal
Wingefors joins as a long-term partner, while Tickster’s founding duo, Jon Serrander and Niklas Stake, remain majority owners. The stake will be Wingefors’ largest minority holding in an unlisted company, and he describes the investment as “a significant amount of money” but would not say more.
“It is our largest minority stake in an unlisted company and it is a significant amount of money, but I cannot say more,” Wingefors told Breakit.
For context, in December 2025 the listed experience group Moment Group sold its entire 18.7% stake in Tickster for SEK 62.5 million, a deal that valued the whole company at SEK 334 million. The buyer was XNSE Experience Enabling Services AB, the company of the Tickster founders.
Tickster in Numbers
Tickster reported 2025 turnover of SEK 122.9 million, up from SEK 106 million in 2024. Profit fell to SEK 13.2 million from SEK 21.7 million the year before.
The company operates in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and works with the Roskilde Festival, among others. From next year, Tickster will also be the ticket supplier for clubs in Allsvenskan and Superettan, following an agreement with Svensk Elitfotboll.
The Värmland Factor
Tickster began at the Arvika Festival in Värmland, and Wingefors is also from the region. Asked how much that matters when he invests, he said the first questions are about synergies, related players and trust in the people involved. Värmland comes last.
“We become a better owner because Tickster is in Värmland than if it had been Tickster from Skåne. If Tickster had been in Skåne, it might not have happened. Proximity matters. We are long-term and I am a local patriot,” Wingefors said. “But that doesn’t mean that all companies in Värmland can get money or that all companies I invest in have to be in Värmland.”
Wingefors’ Wider Portfolio
Besides owning Embracer and its spin-offs Asmodee Group and Coffee Stain Group, Lars Wingefors AB is a co-owner of the real estate company Bröderna Wingefors and an investor in W Aviation AB, an aviation group based in Värmland.
