SAN FRANCISCO, CA — (Marketwired) — 05/14/15 — , the leader in mobile on-demand sports ticketing, is primed for continued expansion after closing its $13.3 million Series A financing led by Accel Partners. Entertainment and sports executive Casey Wasserman, Philadelphia 76ers/New Jersey Devils co-owner David Blitzer and Trunk Club founders Brian Spaly and John Tucker join the round. Previous investors participating in this round include San Francisco Giants, Vancouver Whitecaps and Derby County FC owner Jeff Mallett, Tibco founder and Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, HotelTonight co-founders Sam Shank and Jared Simon as well as Box founder Aaron Levie.
Gametime–s mobile-first experience makes transacting easier and excites investors as it helps expand the nation–s $14 billion dollar market for sporting event access. According to Gametime investor Aaron Levie, “In many industries the market size isn–t constrained by limited demand, but by broken user experience. Fix that, and you unlock the market.” A recent IAB and InMobi showed that fans are utilizing mobile to purchase (37%) sports tickets almost equally as the web (38%) or box office (39%) despite the very brief availability of mobile options. This shift promises to accelerate as Gametime continues to make discovering, purchasing and using tickets frictionless.
“We–re excited to announce that Accel Partners will lead our Series A financing,” said Brad Griffith, founder and CEO of Gametime. “This funding will support our growth, as we continue to improve the way people purchase sports tickets on mobile to grow the market and make the asset class more accessible to younger fans.”
Gametime makes fans more spontaneous with mobile delivery, two-tap purchase, curated listings and panoramic in-game seat views. Available for iOS (including Apple Watch) and Android, Gametime offers last-minute sports tickets for more than 150 teams in 35 markets across the U.S. and Canada. With mobile growing fast, the MLB season, NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs in full swing, sports fans across the nation are choosing Gametime–s unrivaled mobile experience leading to 600% year-over-year growth in Q1 of 2015. Gametime–s user growth is accelerating quickly, with the fastest growing channel of acquisition being word of mouth. 92% of new customers have been referred to the app from friends according to a recent internal survey.
“Mobile commerce works best at the intersection between real-time and local,” said Brian O–Malley, Partner at Accel. “Gametime is the first company to reimagine the purchasing and redemption experience in sports ticketing for a truly mobile-native world. Customers are increasingly accustomed to magical experiences in transportation and food delivery. They deserve something exciting here too.”
The new cash infusion will help to scale Gametime during its rapid growth phase with new technology implementation, marketing investments and aggressive hiring across all departments at its San Francisco-based headquarters.
“The on-demand economy drives fantastic innovation, and Gametime has positioned itself as the leader in mobile ticketing in a short period of time,” said Casey Wasserman, CEO of Wasserman Media Group. “I–ve been impressed with the vision and am excited about the potential for widespread adoption of Gametime.”
offers the leading sports ticketing app for last minute, on-demand tickets to sporting events for over 150 teams in 35 markets throughout the U.S. and Canada. Gametime reimagined the ticket purchase experience for mobile in 2012 to democratize access, bringing speed, convenience and value to sports fans everywhere. Gametime curates the best seat values, presenting them using beautiful in game panoramic seat views coupled with a two-tap purchase process and mobile delivery that eliminates printing. Featured as a top-rated app on iOS, Android and Apple Watch stores, Gametime believes the world is better when people get off the couch and into something fun. As Sporting News reported, “Gametime is connecting millennial sports fans to the experiences and events they want to attend…instantly.” Connect with Gametime on , and .
Sean Pate
Head of Communications
650-207-6587
Jade Mangahis
Senior PR Strategist
917-690-9595
You must be logged in to post a comment Login