SeatGeek, the mobile-centric technology company that seeks to transform the live-event experience for fans, teams, and venues, and RedBall Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: RBAC), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company with a focus on sports, media and data analytics, have signed a definitive business combination agreement to take SeatGeek public.
RedBall is a $575 million SPAC, sponsored by an affiliate of RedBird Capital Partners, a private investment firm with over $5B in assets under management and deep investing and operational expertise across the sports and live events ecosystem.
“At SeatGeek we believe live events create powerful experiences that unite humans,” said Jack Groetzinger, CEO and co-founder of SeatGeek. “We build technology to make more of those experiences possible. Since we started SeatGeek, we’ve focused relentlessly on reinventing live event ticketing. Our technology transforms the historically opaque and complicated process of purchasing tickets into a seamless, delightful experience that enriches events for fans, sellers and rightsholders. We’ve grown substantially in 2021, gaining in market share as the live entertainment industry recovers. That makes this a particularly exciting time to go public via this merger with RedBall. Their significant experience and relationships in sports, live entertainment, and ticketing makes RedBall the ideal partner for SeatGeek.”
Alec Scheiner, CEO of RedBall, added, “We believe SeatGeek is truly the future of live event ticketing. SeatGeek’s technology, customer focus, brand and vertically integrated model align the needs of fans and rightsholders, and differentiates SeatGeek from other industry players, as demonstrated by its impressive growth and share gain momentum. Just as importantly, Jack and the SeatGeek team have built a proven and scalable growth model with compelling long-term margins. With additional capital and RedBall’s company building experience and relationships, we’re excited to help scale this visionary company.”
“Accel helps build tech companies that redefine categories,” said John Locke, partner at Accel. “As long-time investors in SeatGeek, we know that their technology is transforming the live event industry, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue our partnership at this key inflection point.”
Credit Suisse is serving as financial advisor and equity capital markets advisor, and Cooley LLP is serving as legal advisor to SeatGeek. RedBird BD and Goldman Sachs are serving as M&A advisors to RedBall Acquisition Corp, and Fried Frank is serving as legal advisor to RedBall Acquisition Corp. Credit Suisse served as placement agent on the PIPE offering.