Cox Enterprises said Wednesday that it has acquired Experience, an Atlanta startup company that allows fans to use their smartphones to rev up their sports or concert tickets by upgrading seats or adding an up-close experience, such as a run around the bases after a Braves game.
The young technology company already had close ties to Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other media, telecommunications and auto marketing businesses.
Experience was the first startup out of the gate, with a $5 million investment, from a venture capital fund Cox Enterprises helped launch early last year with a multi-year commitment to invest $250 million.
To launch the venture fund, Cox partnered with Atlanta technology entrepreneur Tripp Rackley, a member of the privately held company’s board of directors. Cox and Rackley share ownership of companies in the venture fund.
Cox did not disclose terms of the deal to buy Experience from the venture fund, but said it valued the company at more than $200 million.
“Cox Enterprises has a long history of successfully developing and operating innovative businesses,” Cox Enterprises Chairman Jim Kennedy said in a press release. “We formed a unique partnership with Tripp Rackley to develop pioneering and cutting-edge technology companies. We have achieved that goal.”
Cox’s newest acquisition provides seat upgrades and VIP fan experiences through arrangements with ticket marketers, concert promoters and more than 170 professional and college sports teams, including LiveNation, Ticketmaster, Atlanta Braves, Dallas Cowboys and University of Alabama.
Rackley, 43, said he will remain chairman of Experience, which has about 40 employees and is based in Buckhead. He said his business development group is working on three other startups that are part of the venture fund partnership with Cox.
“Atlanta’s very good at starting high-tech companies,” he said. But they’re usually bought by out-of-state investors and move away because there are few deep-pocket buyers in Atlanta. The Cox deal shows that may be changing, he added.
“This is a big acquisition,” he said. “It would be great if we saw more of this.”
The Experience buyout comes on top of a number of recent moves by Cox to boost investments in its businesses. In January, for example, Cox bought full ownership of AutoTrader Group, an auto marketing firm it started about 15 years ago, in a deal valued at $1.8 billion.
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