A-Rod Co-Founded Ticketing Startup Jump Raises $20 Million to Take on Ticketmaster After Taylor Swift Fiasco

Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and his business partner Marc Lore have raised a $20 million funding round for a new ticketing and fan experience business that they hope will outperform the industry’s troubled incumbents.

The funding round for Jump, which has been in stealth until now, was led by Forerunner Ventures and joined by Courtside Ventures, Will Ventures and Mastry Ventures. Additional investors include MetaLab and Drive by DraftKings, with early funding coming directly from the founders, including Rodriguez and Lore. Total funding is now at $30 million.

Management has engaged in talks with team owners and executives to figure out how to improve the status quo and lure potential clients. The ticketing industry has seen a lot of drama lately, with Live Nation Entertainment Inc. executives facing lawmakers in Washington over the botched sale of Taylor Swift tickets in November. Live Nation Entertainment was formed through a merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010.