Monday, March 28, 2011

"SecondMarket Looking Into Cutting Out the Middleman (VC Firms)"

I'm still trying to figure out how the very premise of their business isn't a '33 Act violation and they're looking fifteen spaces ahead at some creative financing.
From PE Hub:
SecondMarket is looking into the possibility of allowing private companies to bypass venture capital firms and sell shares directly to individual investors, peHUB has learned.

“It creates a very interesting opportunity for us as a business,” SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert told peHUB, adding, “We’re not doing this right now.”

SecondMarket provides a market where private company shares can be bought or sold. (A company’s shares can only be bought or sold if the company approves.) Demand for shares in hot Internet companies has grown to such an extent that even brand name venture firms — like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Andreessen Horowitz — have purchased shares via secondary transactions....MORE