Wilmington-based Untappd has partnered with the Carolina Panthers to host its first beer festival at the Bank of America stadium in Charlotte, officials announced Tuesday.

“One of the things that we've always wanted to do is bring the Untappd users together and create an experience where they're able to meet the people that they've talked with or shared beers with on Untappd,” said Kurt Taylor, founder and CEO of Untappd.

The festival will be May 4 and will feature 100 breweries from all over the country including Lagunitas Brewing Company from California, Victory Brewing Company from Pennsylvania and New Anthem Beer Project from Wilmington. 

One of the goals of the festival is to expose beer drinkers to rare and special breweries from out of state that are hard to get a hold of, Taylor said.

The festival will also have live music and food. Tickets will go on sale March 1 with prices ranging from $50 for general admission and $200 for VIP tickets. There will also be $10 tickets for designated drivers.

The partnership with the Panthers emerged as officials were looking for a large outdoor venue that could accommodate thousands of people, like the Bank of America Stadium.

Officials reached out to the Panthers who were interested in hosting the event, Taylor said.

“We are delighted to be working with Untappd to bring this great new festival to Uptown Charlotte. The beer and brewery scene continues to be a beacon for the growth of our region, and we can’t wait to welcome many local and national brewers to our stadium,” said Carolina Panthers President Tom Glick in a news release.

While it’s Untappd’s first festival, the company is planning to host about 10,000 people and hopes to make it an annual event in Charlotte.

Untappd, a software company that developed a networking app for beer drinkers, chose Charlotte because of its central location and infrastructure.

 “We thought that the Charlotte market was a good spot to have a beer festival. It's a major city with great transportation. We think we'll get a lot of people both internationally and from outside of the area to be interested in this festival,” Taylor said. “We wanted somewhere that they could fly into that had of hotels and infrastructure for a very large beer festival.”

Untappd announced the beer festival to its users on social media along with the launch of a website landing page listing all the breweries and a video.

The company was founded in 2013 and has grown to about 110 employees and 8.3 million users worldwide. Last year Untappd was ranked as the fastest-growing tech company in the state by the 2018 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. The company ranked No. 53 in North America.

The beer festival will introduce the company to beer drinkers not acquainted with the app.

“I think being able to bring a lot of people together in a big area like Charlotte and having a great partner like the Panthers, I think that's going to attract people that don't use the app yet,” Taylor said. “Having the visibility to get in front of them, introduce them to the app, but then also introduce all the festival goers to all these amazing breweries that we have in North Carolina and from out of state; we think that it's going to be a good thing for pretty much everyone involved.”