Key Takeaways
- • NewView Capital and Carta have partnered to simplify tender offers, combining NewView's secondary deal-structuring experience with Carta's equity platform to help startups launch and manage employee liquidity programs.
- • A joint NewView Capital and Carta study projects tender offers will increase threefold over three years for Series C and later-stage startups.
- • Only 44 startups executed tender offers in the first half of 2026, according to the same Carta and NewView research, indicating adoption remains relatively small.
- • NewView led a tender for HighTouch at a $1.3 billion valuation last year, when the marketing customization startup was seven years old.
- • Founder Ravi Viswanathan argues tender offers serve as retention tools to counter talent drain as companies remain private for 12 to 15 years.
Summary
Startups are remaining private for longer, leaving employees who receive equity as part of their compensation with limited prospects for early liquidity. In response, a growing number of late-stage companies are offering tender offers, transactions in which employees and often early investors sell a portion of their shares at a predetermined price to an approved investor, according to TechCrunch.
To streamline this process, NewView recently partnered with Carta, combining NewView's secondary deal-structuring expertise with Carta's equity management platform. Ravi Viswanathan, founder and managing partner of NewView, said the partnership aims to make it easier for CEOs and companies to consider tenders, which he describes as a "win-win-win" for workers, companies, and investors.
A study from NewView Capital and Carta projects tender offers will increase threefold over the past three years for Series C and later-stage startups. Viswanathan said companies pursuing tenders are no longer limited to the most valuable private companies such as OpenAI, Databricks, or Anduril. As an example, NewView led a tender last year for HighTouch at a $1.3 billion valuation when the marketing customization startup was seven years old. Other companies that have recently held tenders include AI customer support startup Decagon, self-driving developer Wayve, and AI voice generator ElevenLabs, which executed two offerings in less than a year.
Despite this momentum, the same research found that only 44 startups executed tender offers in the first half of 2026, so overall adoption remains limited. Viswanathan argued that tenders are effective retention tools and morale boosters, noting that unicorn status alone is less of a talent draw now that many billion-dollar companies exist. Offering liquidity, he said, "is an opportunity to say you will also get liquidity in your journey with us." He added that because companies stay private for 12 to 15 years, providing employee liquidity is necessary to prevent a talent drain from venture-backed companies to public counterparts.
To streamline this process, NewView recently partnered with Carta, combining NewView's secondary deal-structuring expertise with Carta's equity management platform. Ravi Viswanathan, founder and managing partner of NewView, said the partnership aims to make it easier for CEOs and companies to consider tenders, which he describes as a "win-win-win" for workers, companies, and investors.
A study from NewView Capital and Carta projects tender offers will increase threefold over the past three years for Series C and later-stage startups. Viswanathan said companies pursuing tenders are no longer limited to the most valuable private companies such as OpenAI, Databricks, or Anduril. As an example, NewView led a tender last year for HighTouch at a $1.3 billion valuation when the marketing customization startup was seven years old. Other companies that have recently held tenders include AI customer support startup Decagon, self-driving developer Wayve, and AI voice generator ElevenLabs, which executed two offerings in less than a year.
Despite this momentum, the same research found that only 44 startups executed tender offers in the first half of 2026, so overall adoption remains limited. Viswanathan argued that tenders are effective retention tools and morale boosters, noting that unicorn status alone is less of a talent draw now that many billion-dollar companies exist. Offering liquidity, he said, "is an opportunity to say you will also get liquidity in your journey with us." He added that because companies stay private for 12 to 15 years, providing employee liquidity is necessary to prevent a talent drain from venture-backed companies to public counterparts.
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