SeatGeek Raises $35 Million From Big Name Investors: Nas, Peyton Manning & More
Ticket search engine SeatGeek today announced it has raised a $35 million Series B round led by Accel Partners. Causeway Media Partners, a sports-focused investment fund led by Boston Celtics CEO Wyc Grousbeck. Also participating in the round were rapper NAS, Super Bowl MVPs Peyton and Eli Manning, and Melo7 Tech Partners.
SeatGeek says it will use the $35 million financing to grow its team, expand its product and accelerate marketing, particularly on mobile. Accel Partner John Locke will join the company’s board alongside company founders Jack Groetzinger and Russ D’Souza and David Frankel from Founder Collective. Founder Collective first seeded SeatGeek in 2010.
“SeatGeek is a technology company, not a ticket company. We spent our first four years focused exclusively on building a great product,” said Jack Groetzinger, founder of SeatGeek. “A year ago we began to try our hand at marketing, and were blown away by the results. So for us, this is a natural opportunity for us to get more aggressive in marketing. Still, we weren’t looking to raise money, but when we met John and Accel, we knew it was a great fit. John completely gets what we’re trying to build and sees the future of entertainment the same way we do.”
Other participating investors in the Series B round include Stanford University Athletics, Seattle Mariners co-owner and Real Networks founder Rob Glaser, and NBA veterans Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy Jr. Existing investors, including Mousse Partners and Thomas Lerhman, also participated in the round.
