In what could be a sign of things to come for secondary ticket companies in light of the current recession, RazorGator has reached out to venture capitalists and raised $7.5 million in financing.
The company did not release details of its latest round of financing, but according to RazorGator spokesperson Scott Roback, the company expects to release information on matter sometime next week after the deal closes. According to the private equity Web site PEHub.com, Steamboat Ventures, an affiliate of the Walt Disney Company, has placed one of its managing directors, Dan Beldy, on RazorGator’s Board of Directors.
RazorGator is the nation’s sixth-largest secondary ticket company, according to TicketNews’s exclusive industry rankings, and the company has said in the past that it raised about $26 million from venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Oak Investment Partners. The company is perhaps best known for its sports-related ticket and travel packages, particularly involving the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and The Masters golf tournament.
Yet, 2008 was a tough year for RazorGator. Two of its integral executives, Sam Soni and Jason Parker, resigned, and the company found itself embroiled in a lawsuit over Beijing Olympic ticket orders.
In addition, questions remain concerning what the money from the latest round of financing will be used for, and what is the current valuation of the company for which the financing is based.
“Unfortunately I can’t share valuation info with you,” Roback told TicketNews.
Last Updated on March 5, 2009
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Then Kleiner would have twin dinosaurs!
If RazorGator is getting funding, especially the awkward amount of $7.5 million, at this stage of the game, you know they are in trouble. If this were a growth investment, they would have gotten more. If they were a start-up you could understand them getting less.
Sam Soni stirred the drink there, Jason Parker was the puppet at the end of Soni’s strings. He couldn’t sell rice in China yet a Super Bowl ticket in New York.
They might need a little more $$ then that
this must be some kind of joke, america is upside down so badly that this VC firm is trying to burn their investors dollars right up in smoke. Kleiner Perkins is way too smart than give this once highly powered machine one more dollar. KP is now investing in AIG rather than RG. who is going to give these guys another dollar maybe Obama im sure they qualify for stimulus dollars. keep posted america RG maybe the next chapter filing we see. good luck to steamboat ventures their next investment will be to fix the titanic.
Don’t be so sure.. TicketNow may have been purchased for $265 million but now Ticketmaster’s total worth is around that number.
newsflash the ceo of stemboat financial is david lord and doug knittle, they are coming to save the once powerful company they built and ruined. please hold your breath the funds have not cleared yet, this money came just in time as the corporate headquarters was about to move from century city to pacoima so that cuuci would now have to drive himself to work instead of taking the company limo.
I’ve actually really enjoyed working with Razorgator so hopefully they get it together.
Out of all the brokers, they seem to have their site put together the best. I just wish they offered affiliates a few more tools to sell their tickets. 🙂 Maybe they can break off a mil and revamp some of their affiliate apps!
In comparison to the other secondary exchanges RG is puny. I almost forgot they existed until I saw this story. Anyway…who knows what they do w/ the millions already invested over the years. Seems like a waste but go nuts maybe someone will buy them at 10x EBITA.
You sound like the Bozo here ! You probably had to take off your shoes to count the simple math question to get your comment posted. You wish you had the daily revenue they do, they probably net more in one hour than you do the whole year. Go back and armoral my wheels and get back to your car wash job you two bit looser.
The need to raise VC money for an on-going concern with no new market initiatives is definitely a sign of trouble.
Witness that the article states RG is the sixth largest ticke selling entity, but they are in fact down to #9 in the rankings and have been for months.
They should buy TicketsNow, they’d do a lot better with them than TicketMaster is doing.
Well we all know RG is a “Micky Mouse” operation. What makes you think they would run Tickets Now better than Ticketmaster. Look what a great job they did running Ticket Trader into the ground.
This is likely a bridge round, to hopefully bridge the company to more solid ground. Steamboat probably got really great terms on this money, but they are bearing huge risk so they should get great terms.
I wish both Gator and Steamboat well and hope it works out great for both.
Hmmm … seems to me like this is just throwing good money after bad. I’d suggest the investors put up their funds with Madoff instead of investing in RG.
I’m seeing next to no sales with these clowns. I’m surprised they’re still in business!
But hey, maybe they’re smarter than me. If they can convince someone to pony up new funds, then maybe there is something there … or, at the very least, the guys still running it have given themselves solid paychecks for another 9 months.
Someone above mentioned how RG ran Ticket Trader into the ground. Does the company even exist anymore, and what did they actually do? Was the technology rolled into RazorGators services? Would really appreciate any info anyone has. Can be emailed at [email protected]
Cheers