For many startup employees, stock options are the reason they took the job, but turning those options into cash can take a decade or more. A new partnership aims to change that.
Carta, the equity management platform used by tens of thousands of startups, and NewView Capital, a venture firm specialising in secondary investments, have announced a strategic collaboration to support company-sponsored tender offers, TechCrunch reported on Friday, October 23.
The partnership combines NewView's experience in structuring secondary deals with Carta's equity platform, aiming to simplify the process and help startups launch and manage liquidity programmes for their employees.
What tender offers are
In a tender offer, a company arranges for employees, and often early investors, to sell part of their shares at a predetermined price to an approved buyer, typically an investment firm. The company controls the process, deciding who can sell, how much and at what price.
Tender offers allow employees to realise some of the value of their equity without waiting for an IPO or acquisition, helping them buy homes, pay for education or diversify their wealth. For companies, they can improve retention and morale by showing employees that their equity has real value.
Staying private longer
The partnership responds to a fundamental change in the startup world: companies are staying private much longer than in the past. Two decades ago, successful technology companies often went public within five to seven years. Today, many remain private for over a decade, raising capital from late-stage private investors instead of public markets.
"The companies are staying private for 12 to 15 years. That's not changing," said Ravi Viswanathan, founder and managing partner of NewView.
That leaves employees holding illiquid equity for long periods, which can be a problem when they need cash or when they leave the company and must decide whether to exercise options.
Growing demand
A study by Carta and NewView projected that tender offers for Series C and later-stage startups would triple over three years. Yet only 44 tender offers were executed in the first half of 2026, suggesting much room for growth.
Tender offers were once largely limited to the most valuable private companies, such as OpenAI, Databricks and Anduril. They are now spreading to smaller companies. NewView led a tender for marketing technology startup Hightouch at a $1.3 billion valuation last year, when the company was seven years old. Other recent examples include Decagon, Wayve and ElevenLabs, which carried out two tender offers in less than a year.
"The hope is that this partnership will make it easier for CEOs and companies to think about tenders," Viswanathan said. He described tenders as a "win-win-win" for employees, companies and investors.
The talent argument
Viswanathan argues that offering liquidity has become a recruiting necessity. With so many billion-dollar startups, being a unicorn is less of a draw for talent than it was a decade ago. Offering employees a credible path to liquidity, he said, "is an opportunity to say you will also get liquidity in your journey with us."
Competition for talent, particularly in AI, has intensified, with large technology companies offering enormous compensation packages. Startups need ways to make their equity attractive.
The investor's perspective
For secondary investors like NewView, tender offers provide a way to buy into promising companies, often at a discount to primary funding rounds. The secondary market for private company shares has grown significantly, with dedicated funds raising billions of dollars.
The day's other news underscored the stakes. Anthropic's early backers are sitting on paper gains worth billions ahead of an expected IPO, while OpenAI, which has run large tender offers for employees in recent years, is raising money at a $1.25 trillion valuation.
Indian-origin leadership
Viswanathan, who founded NewView in 2018 after a career at New Enterprise Associates, is one of many Indian-origin investors shaping Silicon Valley's venture capital industry.
What it means for Indian startups
Employee liquidity has become an important issue in India's startup ecosystem. Many Indian startups have carried out ESOP buybacks, in which the company itself buys back vested options from employees, to reward staff and retain talent. Companies such as Flipkart, Swiggy, Zepto, PhonePe and Meesho have conducted large buybacks in recent years.
As Indian startups stay private longer and the number of late-stage companies grows, structured liquidity programmes could become more common. Platforms that make tender offers easier could find a market in India, where secondary transactions are often handled informally.
The wave of IPOs by Indian new-age companies, including Zetwerk this week, also provides employees with liquidity, though lock-in rules and market volatility can affect the value they receive.
Risks and considerations
Tender offers are not without complications. Pricing can be contentious, and selling shares at a discount may disappoint employees if the company later grows significantly. Companies must also manage legal, tax and regulatory requirements, and ensure fair treatment of all eligible sellers.
The rise of the secondary market
The market for buying and selling private company shares has grown into a significant part of the venture capital ecosystem. Dedicated secondary funds have raised billions of dollars, and platforms such as Forge, EquityZen and Carta's own secondary offerings provide marketplaces for private shares. Venture firms themselves increasingly use secondaries to return capital to their investors before portfolio companies go public.
The growth of secondaries reflects both the long holding periods for private companies and the enormous valuations some have achieved, creating demand for liquidity from employees, early investors and funds nearing the end of their lives.
What comes next
Carta and NewView will offer their combined services to startups considering tender offers. The partnership's success will be measured by whether it helps more companies, particularly those beyond the most valuable unicorns, provide liquidity to employees.
For the startup ecosystem, easier liquidity could change how employees view equity compensation, making startup jobs more attractive even as companies stay private for longer. If the partnership succeeds in making tender offers routine, it could ease one of the most persistent frustrations of startup employees: holding valuable equity that cannot be turned into cash for years. That would strengthen startups' ability to compete for talent against large public technology companies, whose stock compensation can be sold more easily. Startups in India and elsewhere will be watching to see whether the model gains traction among companies beyond the largest unicorns.
