Secondaries is a compliant, tech-enabled marketplace connecting founders, early investors, and employees who need liquidity with qualified investors who want early access to promising private companies.
Companies stay private longer than ever. That leaves founders, early investors, and employees holding illiquid paper for years — with almost no compliant way to cash out before an exit.
A single compliant pipeline handles verification, valuation, matching, and settlement — with a full audit trail at every step.
Core transaction fees are supplemented by listings, subscriptions, and value-added services — built on both secondary trading and primary placements.
1-3% of deal value on every matched trade. A $1M deal generates $10k-30k in revenue.
$5k basic to $50k premium-with-promotion per company listing on the platform.
Premium investors: $500-5k/month. Companies (data room access): $1k-10k/month.
Independent valuations ($10k-100k), expedited KYC ($500-2k), advisory ($25k-250k), market making (0.5-2% spreads).
Analytical reports ($1k-10k) and institutional API access ($10k-100k/year).
On a $1M / 2% deal: $20k commission against ~$7.9k in platform, KYC, escrow, payment, and support costs.
| Revenue Stage | Deal Volume | Listings/Other | Total Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1-2 (Growth) | 50 deals × $500k × 2% | 20 listings × $10k | ~$700k-1M |
| Year 3-5 (Scale) | 500 deals × $1M × 2% | Listings + subs + services | ~$19M |
| Year 5+ (Maturity) | 2,000 deals × $2M × 1.5% | Listings + services | ~$75M+ |
Global private equity market, with the pre-IPO secondary segment alone at $100-200B annually, growing 25-40% YoY.
Liquid tech companies pre-IPO with valuations above $100M, representing $30-50B in potential deal volume.
$600M-2.5B in transaction volume, translating to $9-37M in revenue from transactions alone.
Incumbents — Nasdaq Private Market, Forge Global (NYSE: FRGE), EquityZen, SharesPost (acquired by Forge), and Carta — are established but slow, expensive, and often not locally focused.
Deep understanding of local regulations and companies where global players are thin.
Rigorous source-of-funds verification builds regulator trust from day one.
Automated processing turns weeks-long deals into 24-48 hour cycles.
Independent, multi-methodology Valuation Engine with real-time market data.
1-2% vs. 3-5% at competitors — pricing built to win volume.
One platform for both secondary trading and primary placements.
Solve liquidity's chicken-and-egg problem with anchor listings and invite-only exclusivity, then scale deal volume and geography.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $700k | $3.5M | $12M | $75M |
| Costs | $2.5M | $5M | $15M | $55M |
| EBITDA | -$1.8M | -$1.5M | -$3M | $20M |
| Valuation | $15M | $40M | $150M | $500M+ |
| Risk | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Lack of liquidity (chicken & egg) | Critical | Anchor listings, market making, invite-only exclusivity |
| Regulatory changes | High | Dedicated legal counsel, flexible architecture |
| Fraud / AML violations | Critical | Strict external KYC/AML providers, insurance |
| Large players entering | High | Local niche focus, M&A exit optionality |
A lean founding team pairs technology execution with business development and regulatory expertise — scaling from 8-12 people at seed to 80-150 by Series B.
Full-time committed; ready to build. 4-6 month MVP timeline leveraging external integrations over custom infrastructure.
Fintech/sales background, ideally sourced through partnership network, driving BD and capital raises.
Owns licensing, SEC/FINRA relationships, and the compliance-first posture the platform is built around.
We're proposing a joint venture: a VC fund's licenses, capital, and deal flow paired with a founding team's technology and execution.
Deep-dive on business model and tech architecture, discuss CEO candidates, and align on partnership structure and terms.
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