Project Admission Completes $3.2M Raise With Raptor, Scrum Ventures
Ticketing platform Project Admission has raised a $3.2 million round of funding that includes new investors Raptor Group and Scrum Ventures. The capital raise, led by existing investor Flyover Capital, also included follow-on money from existing investor Anthemis Group, and brings the startup’s total venture capital funding to $13 million.
“We ended up raising a little bit more money than we were going for. It was mostly around getting more strategic, sports-focused partners,” Project Admission co-founder and CEO Stephen Glicken said in a phone call. Glicken cited Raptor’s sports connection and Scrum’s expertise in Asia as two characteristics the company found particularly appealing in new investors.
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Raptor is led by Jim Pallotta, a famed hedge fund manager who has recently owned stakes in the Boston Celtics and A.S. Roma. Co-investor Scrum Ventures is a Japanese venture capital fund and its managing director Michael Proman, who led its investment into Project Admission, formerly worked in global marketing at the NBA. Original investor Flyover Capital is a Missouri-based, early-stage fund that also has an investment in NIL player Opendorse. London-based Anthemis Group features a diverse slate of early-stage investments, including collectibles firm Rally Rd.
Project Admission has been growing fast. The business has eight straight quarters of double-digit percentage growth, according to the company, which declines to disclose revenue figures. The new funding, to be officially announced later Friday, will help the company maintain its sales momentum by building out its business in North America in the months ahead.
“One of our big targets is completing the slate of integrations across the market… we are aiming to have ubiquitous across the live events market by the end of the year,” Glicken said.
Project Admission partners with ticket brokers, including SeatGeek, which has integrated its software into its platform, and nearly 50 teams, including the new partnerships announced Friday with the Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders and Utah Jazz. The company says it creates more seamless ticket sales and marketing and helps pursue ways to bolster fan engagement and monetization.
For example, Project Admission assists teams in pushing offers to groups, such as sponsor companies and local youth organizations, to more efficiently market and distribute tickets while maintaining the desired branding of the broker or team. It doesn’t sell tickets directly like a broker; rather Project Admission seeks to be a cross-platform and cross-vendor layer that adds value, according to Glicken.
“We’re seeing a lot more opportunities around distribution, around distributed commerce and around fan engagement,” the executive said. “Platforms like ourselves give the incumbent ticketing infrastructure and their clients the opportunity to innovate across live events.”
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