In a recent report, the Nasdaq Private Market (NPM) provided data regarding transaction activity for private company securities. On NPM, the total sponsored liquidity program value increased from $3.2 billion in 51 programs in 2017 to $12.0 billion in 79 programs in 2018. There were 46 third-party tender offers in 2018 compared to 23 in 2017. There were 33 company repurchase programs in 2018 compared to 28 in 2017. The NPM platform also continues to host more repeat programs, suggesting that private companies now are incorporating liquidity programs into their plans. Interestingly only 38% of the programs were for unicorns. This suggests that companies are using sponsored liquidity programs earlier in their growth. The report also highlights another trend, which we too have observed, which is that more companies are conducting programs immediately following "mega-rounds" (rounds in which $100 million or more was raised). This suggests new investors may be eager to see companies take steps to clean up their capitalization tables. NPM also provides some insight on the discounts for common stock sales versus recently completed preferred round valuations. The discounts associated with common stock sales seemed to have narrowed which, taken together with the significant increase in third-party tenders, suggests that institutional investors are becoming more comfortable with purchases through private secondary market platforms.
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