Broker-owned ticket exchange Ticket Evolution, which set today, August 13, as its deadline to raise $4 million in seed money, is vowing to move ahead without revealing how much was raised.
In a blog posting this afternoon on the company’s Web site, chief technology officer Drew Gainor wrote that Ticket Evolution was still accepting last-minute investments and had received several today. How many broker investors the company has attracted, however, was not disclosed.
“We want to thank everyone who has already sent in their checks and signed offerings,” Gainor wrote. “We had over 50 packages show up today and can assure those brokers you have made the right decision and you will not regret it. If anyone had any concern as to whether Ticket Evolution is going to be moving forward, I can tell you that it is 100% moving forward.”
At the time of the company’s launch meeting in Las Vegas in mid-July, co-founder Steve Parry said that if the $4 million was not raised, the company would return the investments to brokers. However, earlier this week, co-founder and President Ram Silverman told TicketNews that the company may not publicly disclose how much it raised, but may eventually tell investors. He made no mention of returning the investments in light of not reaching the $4 million goal.
When reached today, Silverman said that for “confidentiality reasons I can’t share [specific figures] with you,” because the company is a private enterprise.
“I feel we’ve been very transparent throughout this, but there are times when, as a private company, things have to be held close to the vest,” he said.
Within the broker community, estimates on how much Ticket Evolution may have raised range from $1.5 million to $2.5 million, but TicketNews has no way of verifying those predictions, and Silverman said he would not discuss any numbers. The company claims it attracted more than 350 brokers to the launch meeting, in-person and via webcast, so if more than 250 brokers invested the minimum amount of $10,000, the company could have raised more money. In addition, investors were not tied to only putting up $10,000 and could have given the company more for an increased number of shares.
Silverman said he has been “very pleased by the response” of brokers, but declined to offer a number of how many invested. He said the company’s eventual board of directors – 10 brokers and two non-brokers – may decide to release those figures in the future.
Regardless of whether a broker invested or not, the company will make its products available to anyone in the secondary ticket market, but broker investors will pay better rates than non-investors.
“I’d be pleased to have 500 quality brokers on our system, and ultimately, that could make us more competitive than other exchanges,” Silverman said.
The company said it plans to launch “some of our applications” within the next few weeks, but the specific apps were not disclosed. On Thursday, August 12, Gainor wrote, “If you are not ready to become investors we are still incredibly excited to work with you. We know that our applications will help you add profit to your bottom line and make your life simpler and more efficient.”
He added, “We do not know what the future will bring with respect to a second offering but we will certainly keep you posted as we move forward and progress. Ram, Steve, Paul [Harris] and I will work non stop to make sure that we achieve what we have set out to accomplish, which is a more unified industry with the tools that it deserves.”