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Jen Rubio joins TVG Hospitality board

Ben Lovett’s global venue group TVG Hospitality has added Jen Rubio, co-founder and CEO of luggage manufacturer and retailer Away, to its board of directors.

Rubio has raised more than $200 million in funding during her career and is also an active angel investor, having backed over 50 early-stage start-ups including brands such as Parade, Liquid Death and Madhappy.

Her appointment follows the hirings of Jayne Davis as COO and Katie Millar as general manager of the 8,000-cap Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama, earlier this year.

“I am thrilled to join the board of TVG,” says Rubio. “This team is passionate, talented and has already made impressive strides in the industry. The opportunity to lend my experience doing what I love – building lasting brands – in the quickly-evolving world of hospitality is exciting and inspiring.”

“Both myself and the wider leadership team at TVG look forward to learning from Jen’s insights and experiences”

TVG was founded by Mumford & Sons musician Lovett and his brother Greg Lovett, and boasts a growing venue portfolio also including Saturn in Birmingham, Alabama, alongside London’s Omeara, Goods Way and The Social, with additional projects underway across multiple cities.

All TVG venues feature elevated hospitality offerings with local character to enhance experiences for both artists and fans.

“I’ve been patiently waiting and hoping for Jen to join our board for a long time,” says Ben Lovett. “She is one of the most instinctive and talented entrepreneurs I’ve ever met, the success of Away is just the tip of the iceberg. Both myself and the wider leadership team at TVG look forward to learning from Jen’s insights and experiences as we continue to build towards operating some of the best venues in the world.”

TVG will also support Huntsville’s Tip Top Café with its reopening this year, further establishing its roots in the Alabama music scene.

 


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Ben Lovett’s TVG raises $50m in new funding

Ben Lovett‘s TVG Hospitality has announced the closing of $50 million in new funding to expand its team and venue portfolio in the UK and US, backed by a heavyweight list of investors.

The financing round was led by Nat Zilkha and Gibson Brands, with music industry participants including C3 Presents, Irving Azoff and Oak View Group, Mike Luba and Don Sullivan, Justin Kalifowitz and Andrew Bergman, Coran Capshaw, Ron Laffitte, Lucy Dickins, Adam Tudhope and Tom Windish, and musicians Ryan Tedder, Maggie Rogers and Ted Dwane.

Founded by Mumford & Sons’ Lovett and his brother Greg Lovett, TVG currently operates three London venues, with multiple sites under development in the US, including the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama.

“Our passion at TVG, our defining character, is a deep-rooted belief in the value of communal spaces, gathering places where we can be reminded of our common ground and all that makes us human,” says Ben Lovett. “Music is the ultimate leveller – somewhere between melody and lyric is a truth that calls us away from our phones and out of our living rooms to stand together and sing together.

“The plans we have in mind are rooted in elevating these experiences surrounding live music. I am incredibly grateful for the investments from so many of our industry leaders. It furthers cements our belief that our new thinking is going to be game changing for artists, fans and communities alike.”

“Ben and his team are approaching the venue space in exactly the right way”

TVG is bidding to create the next generation of music venues alongside elevated hospitality offerings in order to enhance the artist and fan experience and create gathering spaces as community assets. The company’s current portfolio includes London music venues, Omeara, Lafayette and the Social, and broader hospitality offerings at Flat Iron Square and Goods Way.

“We are thrilled to be working with TVG on this next chapter of their venues.” says Irving Azoff, chairman/CEO, The Azoff Company and co-founder, Oak View Group. “Ben and his team are approaching the venue space in exactly the right way – you have to put the artist and the fan at the centre of every thought process. That’s the key and TVG are both artists and fans whilst also knowing a thing or two about hospitality. We hope to support them on their mission in any way we can.”

Funding was also provided by leading entrepreneurs and hospitality industry leaders including Jen Rubio and Stewart Butterfield, Joe Gebbia, Olga Segura, Tom Kartsotis, Samantha Marquart, Brent Montgomery, Ann Berry, Bippy Siegal, and Dani Ricciardo, as well as investors such as LionTree, Goldman Sachs, John Howard, Pete Muller and multiple partners from KKR.

The company is partnering with the City of Huntsville, Alabama on the 8,000-cap Orion Amphitheater to be opened in May. TVG will also operate a food village next to the venue and another venue located in downtown Huntsville called Meridian Social Club at The Lumberyard, which will open this summer. TVG is also developing projects in Washington DC, London, Nashville, Austin, Detroit, New York and Los Angeles.

“We have purposefully built a leadership team with extensive experience across music, hospitality, real estate and finance”

In addition, the firm has expanded its leadership team, adding Jesse Mann (formerly SVP, strategy and operations, AC Entertainment/Live Nation), Dan Pine (ex-MD at Marathon Asset Management and development partner to the Related Companies), and Lisa Seelinger (formerly head of People for Bergdorf Goodman and Maybourne Hotel Group).

“We have purposefully built a leadership team with extensive experience across music, hospitality, real estate and finance,” adds chairman David Lovett, Ben and Greg’s father, and co-founder and former vice chairman of Alix Partners in Europe. “We are building our company like we create our venues, with intention, so that our assets and TVG become valuable and sustainable parts of each of the communities in which we operate.”

Speaking to IQ last year, Ben Lovett said: “One of the things that we learned was that you need to build a whole ecosystem. There’s no point having just one big venue so bands from out of town come and play a handful of times, you’ve got to nurture local grassroots talent.”

 


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