Cox Enterprises Buys Ticket Upgrade Startup Experience
Late last week Cox Enterprises announced the acquisition of Experience (team pictured at left), a ticket upgrade startup that offers such features as seat upgrades at the game and fan experiences like meet and greets via mobile. Though Experience's services are widely used for sports events, their tech is also used for music events via a deal with Live Nation/Ticketmaster. Being able to upgrade seats and enhance the outing at the event opens up ways to both increase revenues and reward fans.
Cox Enterprises acquired Experience for an undisclosed sum. Experience itself is said to be valued at more than $200 million.
Note Cox's announcement does not say they were buying it for $200 million though that's how it's being reported. In fact Cox already owned part of it in an interesting arrangement with entrepreneur and board member Tripp Rackley.
Here's a mini-timeline:
Dec. 2010:
Cox Enterprises Elects Tripp Rackley to Board of Directors
Jan. 2013:
Cox Enterprises and Renowned Entrepreneur Tripp Rackley Create Quarter Billion Dollar Partnership
Basically Cox created a $250 million fund to invest in companies founded by Rackley. Experience was the first such creation and Rackley stated they put $5 million of the fund into Experience.
Here's a look at what Experience does including providing seat upgrades, special experiences and data capture.
These sorts of extras can not only help the bottom line but be used to build strong connections between performing groups and fans and even venues and fans all of which will also help the bottom line.
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) recently launched DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
