Startups and Stock Sales: NewView and Carta Launch Liquidity Partnership

Employees at private technology firms are increasingly waiting decades to see cash value from their stock grants, but a new partnership between NewView and Carta aims to shorten that timeline significantly. The two companies have joined forces to streamline the process by which startups can offer secondary sales to their staff. This development directly addresses the growing friction between long private periods and the financial expectations of a workforce that relies on equity for a substantial portion of its compensation.

The core mechanism driving this collaboration is the tender offer. In these transactions, current holders of equity, including employees and early investors, can sell a portion of their shares at a predetermined price to an approved buyer. As the wait for a public listing or acquisition stretches out, more late-stage companies are turning to this approach. By pairing NewView's experience in structuring secondary deals with Carta's established equity management platform, the partners intend to lower the operational barriers for companies wishing to run such programs.

Ravi Viswanathan, the founder and managing partner of NewView, framed the initiative as a practical solution for smoother liquidity management. He stated that the goal is to make it easier for chief executive officers and their boards to consider tender offers as a standard tool. Viswanathan characterized early liquidity as a mutual benefit, describing it as a win for employees, the company, and investors alike. His perspective suggests that providing cash options is no longer a luxury but a strategic necessity for talent retention.

Market data supports the notion that this practice is gaining traction rapidly. A recent study conducted by NewView Capital and Carta indicates that tender offers among Series C and later-stage startups have tripled over the past three years. This growth shows that the practice is no longer confined to the most prestigious private firms. While companies like OpenAI, Databricks, and Anduril have historically been associated with such deals, the trend is now spreading to a broader segment of the venture-backed landscape.

Hightouch, a marketing customization startup, serves as a concrete example of this shift. Last year, NewView led a tender offer for the company at a valuation of 1.3 billion dollars. The company was seven years old at the time. This instance highlights how secondary markets are becoming a viable exit strategy for employees well before a traditional public offering or acquisition is completed, allowing them to realize value earlier in the company's lifecycle.

Despite the rapid growth, the practice remains far from universal. The same research found that only 44 tender offers were executed in the first half of 2026, which represents a small fraction of eligible startups. Viswanathan aims to widen this group by positioning tenders as strong retention tools. He argues that they also function as morale boosters, providing employees with a tangible sense of progress and financial security even while the company remains private.

The standard recruiting pitch has also evolved in response to market saturation. A decade ago, reaching unicorn status was sufficient to attract top talent, but the proliferation of billion-dollar companies has diminished the allure of that title. Viswanathan noted that a tender offer allows a company to explicitly state that employees will gain liquidity during their tenure. This clarity helps differentiate private employers in a competitive labor market where public sector alternatives are often more financially transparent.

Recent activity further illustrates the momentum behind these secondary sales. Companies such as Decagon, an AI customer support startup, and Wayve, which develops self-driving technology, have recently held tender offers. ElevenLabs, an AI voice generator, carried out two such offerings in under a year. These examples underscore a shifting norm where providing employee liquidity is becoming a recurring feature of high-growth private firms rather than a one-time event.

Looking ahead, the trend of extended private periods does not appear to be reversing. Viswanathan observed that companies are staying private for 12 to 15 years and that this pattern is unlikely to change. To prevent a talent drain from high-quality venture-backed firms to their public counterparts, he emphasized the need to ensure liquidity for employees. The NewView and Carta partnership is positioned as a key step in building that infrastructure for the next era of private enterprise.