N.Y.-based ticketing company SeatGeek has completed a $56M purchase of Israeli ticketing software company TopTix, a deal that is the largest acquisition in SeatGeek history and is designed in part to expand the company’s SeatGeek Open platform. SeatGeek since last year has collaborated with TopTix, which has a U.S. base in South Carolina, on the deployment of its open ticketing system for Sporting K.C. With that project now up and running, discussions earlier this year quickly moved toward a SeatGeek acquisition of TopTix. The deal was financed by a $57M Series D investment round led by Glynn Capital, with participation by several existing SeatGeek investors including Accel, Technology Crossover Ventures, Haystack Partners, Mousse Partners and Causeway Media Partners, an investment fund led by Celtics Managing Partner & CEO Wyc Grousbeck. SeatGeek’s Series D round follows a total of nearly $100M raised in Series B and C rounds in ’14 and '15. TopTix clients include EPL club West Bromwich Albion, the Netherlands national soccer team and the College Football HOF, among many others, immediately giving SeatGeek an international profile it did not previously have. “The ticketing opportunities globally are very exciting to us, and TopTix opens a lot of important doors for us,” SeatGeek co-Founder Russ D’Souza said. TopTix also holds an extensive presence in performing arts and cultural attractions, working with a variety of entities such as Buckingham Palace, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and K.C.'s Union Station. A decision has not yet been made whether the TopTix brand name will be retained, but D’Souza said that marketing the SeatGeek Open platform by that name will be the primary focus. SeatGeek intends to retain the TopTix employee base of 115.
