Ex-baseball player Alex Rodriguez and business partner Marc Lore have raised $20m (£17m/€18m) in a recent funding round for a new ticketing and fan experience business.
The funding round for start-up Jump was led by Forerunner Ventures and joined by Courtside Ventures, Will Ventures and Marty Ventures.
We’re leading the $20M round for JUMP, an ambitious new approach to the fan experience, founded by the incomparable @jordyleiser, @MarcLore and @AROD:
https://t.co/ln72HkWQx8— Forerunner (@ForerunnerVC) March 1, 2023
Additional investors include MetaLab and Drive by DrafKings, with early funding coming directly from Rodriguez and Lore. Total funding for the project now amounts to $30m, according to a report from Bloomberg.
According to the article, Jump management has entered talks with team owners and executives to figure out how to improve ticketing and more, as well as lure potential clients.
Rodriguez and Lore originally tried to buy Major League Baseball (MLB)’s New York Mets in 2020, but decided to embark on a different venture.
Lore told Bloomberg: “As Alex and I began exploring ownership opportunities with sports teams, we spoke to industry execs and began seeing first-hand how many teams were missing the mark when it came to their fan experience. We quickly realised that there were so many untapped opportunities to rethink the entire fan journey.”
Jump is set to offer services across ticketing, e-commerce, content and event experiences, including dynamic pricing.