Secondaries

Enterprise

– “Carta to Shift Focus: Prioritizing Trust by Exiting Secondaries Business”

The big idea was to become the transfer agent, brokerage and clearinghouse for all private stock transactions in the world. While the move made Carta more valuable in the eyes of its venture backers — a company has to scale after all! In his post tonight, Ward downplayed the impacts of ending secondary trading on Carta, saying the revenue derived from the practice is minuscule compared with Carta’s other business offerings. Striking a humble tone, Ward wrote that “ALL of my ideas around liquidity — auctions, investor matching, secondary trading, open tender offers, have not worked. Many people think we are best poised to solve liquidity because we have cap table data.

Dylan Williams
January 8, 2024
1 Comment

Uncategorized

Some Secondary Investors Claim that Certain Valuations Remain Excessively High

Startup valuations — especially at the later stages — have come down drastically over the last year and a half of the ongoing market correction. Companies that once boasted sky-high valuations like Klarna and Getir have seen their valuations slashed in their latest funding rounds. Outside of Klarna and Getir, though, very few late-stage companies have raised new primary rounds since the booming 2021 market. This is a noticeable haircut from the $25 billion valuation it garnered in 2021. A recent survey of venture secondaries investors found that for those who focus on the industry, many think prices may still have room to drop.

Max Chen
December 19, 2023
4 Comments

Venture

Secondaries Surge as Venture Funding Returns

Venture funding has started flooding back in at least one area: Secondaries

The venture secondaries market has been on the same roller coaster ride as the broader VC market over the past few years. However, given the tightening requirements of both institutional…