Venture Capital News: ScoreBig Scores Big with $18M Series D Round
2014-10-28
HOLLYWOOD, CA, Online marketplace that finds discounted live event tickets, has raised $18 million in Series D funding.
ScoreBig.com - the first online marketplace focused exclusively on helping consumers save on live event tickets - today announced that it has raised $18M in new funding led by Hearst Ventures with participation from both new and existing investors.
'ScoreBig is built on the belief that both the price conscious consumer and the industry can win,' said George Kliavkoff, co-president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, and president of Hearst Ventures. 'The team at ScoreBig has developed a solution to two of the biggest challenges facing the live entertainment industry: making live events more affordable for price conscious consumers, and increasing live event attendance.
ScoreBig does this in a manner that protects full price sales of entertainment brands, while also providing tremendous value for the consumer. ScoreBig's widespread support from so many sectors of the entertainment industry and its rapid growth is validation of the company's role in re-shaping the industry.'
At ScoreBig.com, consumers can 'name a ticket price' to save on millions of tickets to premier sports, concert and theater events nationwide. ScoreBig contracts with leading event presenters and professional resellers to secure proprietary access to unpublished ticket prices below face value. As a result, consumers save an average 40% below box office prices - days, weeks and even months in advance. At the same time, ScoreBig.com's unique pricing algorithms maximize event attendance and revenue for its entertainment partners, while protecting their brands and retaining the integrity of their full price sales channels.
'Many of us at ScoreBig have spent our entire careers in the live entertainment industry, and everyone on the team loves live entertainment. We are passionate about our mission-getting millions of new consumers out to enjoy the thrill of live entertainment, more often' said ScoreBig.com CEO David Goldberg. 'Our new and existing investors, whose DNA is in building great consumer brands, will allow us to continue this mission. Just as the travel industry transformed itself with more innovative pricing and sales channels years ago, we will work with our partners to transform the live entertainment industry. By providing our partners with a new set of tools and a sales channel to price more efficiently, we help the industry win, while also increasing the options for price sensitive consumers to save on tickets and attend more live events'.
Today's funding comes after several years of rapid growth and a year where ScoreBig will more than double its revenues. ScoreBig will use the new funds to expand its online and mobile product offering, further its strategic partnerships, and grow consumer awareness. Kliavkoff will join the ScoreBig Board.
About ScoreBig.com
ScoreBig.com is the first and only ticketing company created to help consumers save on live event tickets and to help the live entertainment industry move unsold ticket inventory in an opaque manner, so that ticket sellers' brands and full-price sales channels are fully protected. ScoreBig.com's 'Name a Ticket Price' platform provides consumers savings of up to 60 percent on great tickets to premier sports, concert and theater events, every day. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., ScoreBig.com was founded in 2009 and is backed by Checketts Partners Investment Fund, Hearst Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners among others. ScoreBig.com has been recognized by Forbes as one of America's Most Promising Companies, by Billboard as one of the 10 Best Start-ups, and by Los Angeles Business Journal's annual Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Awards as one of the region's most innovative companies.
About Hearst Ventures
Hearst Ventures makes strategic investments in companies operating at the intersection of media and technology. Starting with its investment in Netscape in 1995, Hearst Ventures has grown to become one of the most active and successful corporate venture funds. Notable investments include Pandora, Brightcove, XM Satellite Radio, Eink, Sling Media, Exodus, Broadcast.com, Hootsuite, IGG and Buzzfeed. Hearst Ventures (hearstventures.com) is a unit of Hearst Corporation, one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies.
About Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies. Its major interests include ownership of 15 daily and 34 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union; hundreds of magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, ELLE and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations, which reach a combined 18 percent of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, HISTORY and ESPN; significant holdings in automotive, electronic and medical/pharmaceutical business information companies; a 50 percent stake in global ratings agency Fitch Group; Internet and marketing services businesses; television production; newspaper features distribution; and real estate. Follow us on Twitter @HearstCorp and subscribe to Hearstlink.
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