LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ScoreBig (www.scorebig.com), a new members-only site offering savings of 10-70% and no fees on tickets for sports, concert and theater events nationwide, today announced a $14 million first closing of its Series B financing. U.S. Venture Partners led the latest funding, which also included previous investor, Bain Capital Ventures. With this latest financing, ScoreBig has raised a total of $22.5 million.
Founded by CEO Adam Kanner, former National Basketball Association executive and COO and CTO Joel Milne, founder of SeasonTicket.com, ScoreBig is an entirely new channel within the live entertainment industry designed to help owners of unsold inventory fill seats while at the same time increase the overall affordability of live entertainment to consumers.
Venue owners, sports teams, producers, promoters and any entity with unsold live event inventory now has, for the first time, an ability to safely and securely sell this inventory to consumers without the cannibalization risks and negative brand perceptions often associated with traditional discounting. As a result, ScoreBig’s ticketing partners are able to pass unprecedented savings onto ScoreBig’s member base and ScoreBig’s partners are able to attract new customers and fill seats.
“Today’s announcement is an important milestone for ScoreBig and further validates the importance of our solution and mission to help the live event industry deal with the issues of unsold seats and the rising cost for consumers to attend live events," says Kanner. “We are leading the charge to deal with these issues head on and are thrilled to have such committed partners who share our vision.”
ScoreBig members currently have access to more than half a million tickets to thousands of events – all below retail price – and growing every day. Members can choose their event, pick their price, select their seating preference and make an offer, which is instantly accepted or rejected. Every ticket offered by ScoreBig is below retail, includes free delivery and is 100% guaranteed. Membership is free but by invitation only.
“ScoreBig has finally done for the live entertainment industry what others have done for the travel and retail industries – create a channel to move inventory at a discount without cannibalizing full price sales or damaging brands” adds Rick Lewis, Partner at U.S. Venture Partners. "ScoreBig has proven itself to be a category-defining company with a model that for the first time, works collaboratively with the industry to safely and dynamically sell tickets below retail price, while also serving to increase the affordability of attending live events for fans.”
In addition to a seasoned team of executives, ScoreBig advisors and individual investors include Gideon Yu, former Facebook and YouTube chief financial officer; Shari Redstone, vice chair of CBS and Viacom; Michael Bronner, founder and former chief executive of Digitas; and Finn Wentworth, former president and chief operating officer of YankeeNets among others.
About ScoreBig
ScoreBig is the web’s newest place to get the best deals on great sports, concert and theater tickets without paying any fees for the privilege. Members receive access to seats from the floor to the rafters, all priced below retail and 100% guaranteed for thousands of live events across the country. To provide these unprecedented savings for members, ScoreBig partners with top venues, sports teams, promoters, artists, brokers, and entertainment properties. ScoreBig was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Los Angeles.
About U.S. Venture Partners
U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) is a leading Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, helping entrepreneurs build world-class companies since 1981. USVP focuses on early stage opportunities in sectors where the Partners have the domain expertise, operating experience and network of relationships to contribute to the success of an enterprise. Currently, the firm invests in digital communications, network systems, consumer and business services, media, semiconductors, clean technologies, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices.