Today marks a big milestone for New York based SecondMarket. The LinkedIn IPO makes it the first company that traded privately through SecondMarket to go public.
That allowed SecondMarket to reveal some of the data it has long kept secret, such as the price and volume of trades that took place around LinkedIn. Read More
On the list of private tech companies that investors are eager to snap up on Second Market, Foursquare is hanging in some elite company. It currently ranks number six on the most watched list, behind billion dollar behemoths like Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, Zynga and LinkedIn.
In fact Foursquare ranks above Skype, which had flirted with Read More
Big names like Facebook and Twitter get all the attention when their shares trade on secondary markets. But New York VCs are actively encouraging their smaller portfolio companies to make use of platforms like SecondMarket and Sharepost.
“When this activity first started to appear two years ago, a lot of investors said the sky was Read More
Companies that facilitate the trade in private shares of tech companies like Facebook and Twitter also provide third party research so that buyers can get a sense of what experts think these firms are worth. It’s important, since the financial health of these companies is pretty opaque. A few figures on revenue and profit margins have circulated, but there is no way for an individual investor to confirm these numbers.
Not surprisingly, companies like Facebook command a pretty huge premium. On Sharepost, two of the three estimates peg the social networks value between 10 and 13 billion dollars. In the meantime, the stock is fetching upwards of $70 billion at auction. And these aren’t just investors hoping to capitalize on flip when the company goes to IPO. “Want to purchase 1000 shares at $30…kids college fund,” writes one Sharepost user. Read More
One of the most interesting and tectonic shifts in the world of tech start-ups has been the emergence of robust markets for buying and selling private shares.
The SEC’s announcement last week that it is was considering relaxing the rules around private shares was met with strong reaction from the VC community.
New York investor Roger Ehrenberg penned a post this morning for Fortune arguing that the private markets were in need of some rationality. Read More
Private share powerhouse SecondMarket sent out an email to members today warning about the growing threat of IPO scams for well known startups.
Bogus offers have been surfacing for Twitter, Groupon and Facebook, which is far and away the most sought after property on SecondMarket. Read More
