This story was updated at 8:12 p.m. EDT on Monday, August 9, 2010, to add a comment from Bill Peterson.

Just days before the self-imposed deadline Ticket Evolution set to raise $4 million, another broker-owned ticket exchange has emerged to challenge it.

Temporarily called “NewCo,” the new exchange is being developed by Chicago-based SeatExchange.com, and the founders have begun sending out invitations to select brokers to attend a launch meeting later this month. GoldCoastTickets.com is listed as one of the brokers expected to attend the meeting.

“On behalf of the new management team at Seat Exchange and our technology partner, we want to invite you to attend a meeting in Chicago, on August 24th to discuss a new entity under development – ‘NewCo’, and our vision for a broker owned exchange,” the invitation states. “The ‘NewCo’ Exchange is a technology platform delivering brokers a strategic approach to manage and market content online based on an SEO ‘first’ model. The ‘NewCo’ management team is confident this solution will address the many issues and challenges facing the broker community today, while creating value in the future.”

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The new venture is being spearheaded by SeatExchange principals Chris Brennan and Bill Peterson, who also said in the letter, dated today, August 9, they are requiring attendees to sign non-disclosure agreements before they will be allowed to participate.

“While we are all aware there are several individual or small groups of brokers attempting to create their interpretation of a broker owned exchange, our platform and strategy offers some key points of differentiation. Our meeting and discussion will focus on the following key areas: Technology; Broker Ownership & Participation; Value Creation,” the letter states.

Additional details about NewCo were not available. When reached by TicketNews, Peterson said he could not offer more information. “At this time, I can’t provide anymore details,” he said, but added that he and Brennan had spent several months developing the initiative and have talked to several brokers about it.

The announcement appears to have been timed to steal some thunder from competing broker-owned ticket exchange Ticket Evolution, which set a deadline of Friday, August 13, to raise $4 million from brokers – minimum investments are $10,000 each. Ram Silverman, president of Ticket Evolution, declined to disclose how much they have raised, or how many brokers have invested, but he said that “everything is going well” on the financial front.

But, whether Ticket Evolution reaches its goal, Silverman told TicketNews that will not matter.

“We’re moving forward regardless of the amount we raise,” Silverman said. “This company is moving forward.”

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