Startups staying private longer face employee liquidity challenges. NewView and Carta partnered to simplify tender offers, allowing employees and early investors to sell shares to approved investors. Ravi Viswanathan of NewView describes this as a "win-win-win" for workers, companies, and investors.
A recent study projects tender offers for Series C and later-stage startups will increase threefold over three years. While historically reserved for unicorns like OpenAI and Databricks, recent examples include Hightouch at a $1.3 billion valuation at seven years old. Companies including Decagon, Wayve, and Eleven Labs have executed multiple offerings.
Despite growth, only 44 tender offers executed in the first half of 2026. Viswanathan views these as excellent retention tools and morale boosters to prevent talent drain into public markets during extended private lifecycles of 12 to 15 years.
Source: TechCrunch Venture · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing