Minnesota United goalkeeper Vito Mannone minds the net during an MLS soccer match against FC Dallas … [+]
In early March 2020, Stephen Glicken was looking forward to an exciting development for Project Admission, a ticket technology platform he had co-founded two years earlier. Project Admission had signed a contract with a National Hockey League team, and the company hoped a successful launch would lead to more sports clients.
That deal was upended when the NHL suspended its season a few days later as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The same situation occurred in other sports leagues. And even when games resumed, they took place in front of no fans, a difficult scenario for Project Admission, a company that makes all of its revenue via live events.
Still, Project Admission stuck to its business plan, did not lay off any employees and remained confident it would see results when fans were allowed back in stadiums. That decision has ended up paying off, as Project Admission is announcing today it has raised a $5.5 million seed funding round led by Anthemis Group, a venture capital firm that invests in financial technology startups. Other investors include Flyover Capital, an Overland Park, Kans., VC firm.
To date, Project Admission has raised a total of $9 million of funding. The company would not disclose its post-money valuation following the seed round.
Project Admission’s technology is integrated into SeatGeek and Tickets.com, two popular marketplaces that professional franchises, college teams and venues use to sell tickets. By partnering with Project Admission and using its technology, teams can create branded online storefronts through which they can sell tickets to a specific group. For instance, the technology allows a New York team to send email alerts to members of the New York Police Department alerting them that tickets are available at a discount. Teams can also use Project Admission to sell digital commemorative tickets of games that have already been played.
“We put our stake in the ground (when Covid began),” Glicken said. “We didn’t pivot. We didn’t become a live streaming business. There was a lot of pressure at that moment to figure out what to do. I stuck my stake in the ground and said, ‘Look, if you have any eye to history, these things end. I don’t know when it’s going to end, but they do end.’”
He added: “We were already where the market was aiming. Looking at what was about to happen, I thought what we were doing was already the right thing and I thought it would be even more valuable as things started opening up again.”
Before founding Project Admission in 2018, Glicken spent nearly 20 years in the music and entertainment industries as an audio engineer, producer and executive. In 2011, he was one of the first employees of CrowdSurge, a startup live music technology and ticketing company that Songkick acquired four years later. Glicken worked in business development and helped musicians such as Paul McCartney, Adele and Kenny Chesney sell tickets directly to their fans online.
Project Admission’s other co-founders are Jordan Stone, whose experience included serving as Taylor Swift’s head of digital marketing, and Tom Giles, who had previously founded StageBloc, a digital technology firm whose clients included Metallica and Justin Timberlake. Glicken is Project Admission’s chief executive, while Stone is chief marketing officer and Giles is chief strategy and product officer.
Although Project Admission’s co-founders had primarily worked in the music industry, they knew that the company’s technology would work well in the sports industry, where teams needed help selling tickets. Two years ago, Project Admission was one of 10 startups selected for the inaugural Techstars Sports Accelerator by Indy. The program was sponsored by a few sports organizations based in Indianapolis, including the Indianapolis Colts, Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the NCAA.
“We jumped into that ‘knowing it would be a vehicle for us to build a foundation in sports,” Glicken said. “It was an amazing experience and turned into the foundational thrust into the sports business.”
Today, Project Admission generates almost all of its revenue through its sports partnerships. The company’s clients include the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA and the Minnesota United FC and Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer.
“Project Admission’s robust platform has helped us sell and distribute tickets in a variety of effective ways,” Sean Sittnick, the United’s vice president of sales, said in a news release. “Whether launching promotional storefronts for our local partners, empowering fan-based sellers or easily distributing group tickets, whatever we dream up Project Admission can make a reality.”
Project Admission plans on using proceeds from the seed funding round to expand its staff of 20 and hire engineers and technology personnel as well as client-facing sales and business development employees. The company expects to expand into Broadway musicals, as well, and have its technology integrated with five other ticketing platforms by the end of next year, which would significantly increase its revenue potential.
“We have the opportunity to capture these integrations, which is the hardest part of our business,” Glicken said. “The biggest barrier to entry is the integrated access to tickets. This (funding) allows us to step on the gas to get the integrations done and help us scale.”
