SeatGeek

SeatGeek sells tickets to sports, concerts and theater through its website and app, operating both a secondary resale marketplace and a primary ticketing platform that teams and venues use as their box office. It was founded in 2009 by Jack Groetzinger and Russell D'Souza while in the DreamIt Ventures accelerator in Philadelphia, and launched at TechCrunch50 that September; Eric Waller joined as first employee and third co-founder. The company is based in New York City. Primary ticketing clients have included the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Cavaliers, Liverpool F.C. and Manchester City, and Major League Baseball named it an official ticket marketplace in 2023.

DreamIt Ventures provided $20,000 of seed funding in 2009, and in January 2010 four New York angels, Sunil Hirani, Mark Wachen, Arie Abecassis and Allen Levinson, led a follow-on round of between $500,000 and $1 million. A-Grade Investments, the fund of Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary, invested in the early years. In April 2015 Technology Crossover Ventures led a $62 million Series C with Mousse Partners, Accel Partners and Causeway Media, bringing total funding to $103 million. A Series D followed, including a $16.36 million extension in 2020 in which Mousse Partners affiliates invested about $5 million. In August 2022 Accel led a $238 million Series E at a valuation of about $1 billion, with Wellington Management, Arctos Sports Partners and Ryan Smith participating.

In October 2021 SeatGeek agreed to go public by merging with RedBall Acquisition Corp., a SPAC sponsored by an affiliate of RedBird Capital Partners, at an implied enterprise value of about $1.35 billion, with a $100 million PIPE led by Accel. The companies terminated the deal on May 31, 2022, citing unfavorable market conditions for growth technology companies. SeatGeek's merger filing reported revenue of $186.3 million in 2021, $33.2 million in 2020 and $142.2 million in 2019, with a 2021 net loss of $80.0 million. Accel, Founder Collective, Mousse Partners and TCV were each listed as expected 5% holders of the combined company.

SeatGeek shows how the 2021 SPAC window opened and closed for venture-backed companies. Its backers, led by Accel (on the board since 2014) and Founder Collective at the early stage, had a public exit lined up and then lost it to the 2022 market downturn, after which Accel led a private round at a valuation below the SPAC price. More than sixteen years after founding, its venture investors are still waiting for liquidity.