At KingsCrowd, we want to continue to be the most comprehensive platform for the online private markets. This includes secondary trading platforms — specifically, Forge Global. Forge is a secondary market platform for growth stage and pre-IPO companies where early investors and employees can sell their shares. As such, Forge provides yet another option for investment opportunities available to our accredited investor base.
Last month, we highlighted several Forge deals, including Procore Technologies, The Honest Company, and Allbirds. As we continue our coverage of these secondary market platforms, we are excited to bring you some highlights for the month of March.
Below are some of Forge’s current investment opportunities:
SingleStore – Founded in San Francisco, CA, SingleStore (formerly MemSQL) is a real-time analytics platform helping companies to query big data quickly and adapt to changing business conditions. The company saw its ARR grow more than 70% with Verizon, Intel, Uber, and more as part of its customer base. The company recently closed an $80 million Series E round of financing ($3.44 a share) led by Insight Partners — bringing its total raised to $238 million. A valuation was not disclosed, but is estimated at around $500 million. Shares are being offered at $4.17 each on Forge. The company’s previous raise included a $50 million round of debt financing and a $30 million Series D. Investors in SingleStore include Accel, Glynn Capital, and GV (formerly Google Ventures).
Collective Health – Collective Health is a cloud-based, integrated health benefits platform that enables self-insured employers to get more out of their healthcare investment. Customers include Activision Blizzard, eBay, Palantir, and Red Bull. At its last round of Series E funding in 2019, the company raised $210 million from Softbank’s Vision Fund, DFJ Growth, and others along with participation from existing investors New Enterprise Associates, GV, and more. A valuation was not disclosed. Shares are currently $0.36 each. Collective Health raised a $110 million Series D in 2018 at a $515 million pre-money valuation.
Nextdoor – Nextdoor is a private social network that connects neighbors with other neighbors, local businesses, services, news, and more. Nextdoor raised a $47 million Series F at $20.39 a share and an estimated $2.1 billion valuation in September 2019. Shares on Forge are being offered at $42.11 each. The company has raised a total of $455 million with investors including Insight Partners, Tiger Global Management, Benchmark, and others.
We hope this serves as a jumping-off point for any of our accredited readers hoping to become more aware of the secondary market ecosystem. Additionally, we will continue to highlight Forge deals and other secondary markets as fully-comprehensive leaders in the private equity space.
As a reminder, all offers have $100k minimums and are exclusive of a 5% transaction fee. Also, all deals in the space are limited to accredited investors.
If you’re not an accredited investor but you’re interested in selling/buying startup shares, you still have options! NetCapital is a secondary platform where investors can trade their startup shares.
