Stock Liquidity: NewView and Carta Link Platforms for Startup Employees

Employees at private companies are gaining a clearer path to cash in on their stock holdings. NewView and Carta announced a partnership designed to streamline the process of selling shares before a company goes public. The move addresses a common frustration for workers whose compensation is heavily tied to equity in firms that remain private for extended periods.

The core of the collaboration is the tender offer. In these transactions, employees and early investors can sell a portion of their shares at a fixed price to approved buyers. The new integration pairs NewView's expertise in structuring secondary deals with Carta's equity management platform. Ravi Viswanathan, founder and managing partner of NewView, stated the goal is to help CEOs and companies launch liquidity programs more efficiently. He described early liquidity as a win for employees, companies, and investors alike.

Data from a joint study by NewView Capital and Carta indicates that tender offers are becoming more common. Among Series C and later-stage startups, these offers have tripled over the past three years. Viswanathan noted that the practice is no longer restricted to high-profile firms like OpenAI, Databricks, or Anduril. He cited Hightouch, a marketing customization startup, as an example. NewView led a tender offer for Hightouch at a $1.3 billion valuation when the company was seven years old.

Despite the growth, tender offers are not yet standard practice. The research found that only 44 such offers were executed in the first half of 2026. Viswanathan views tenders as effective tools for retaining talent and boosting morale. He argued that the traditional recruiting pitch of promising a future unicorn status has lost impact. With an increasing number of billion-dollar companies, he said a tender offer allows a founder to promise employees they will gain liquidity during their tenure.

Recent examples of companies using this method include Decagon, an AI customer support firm, and Wayve, a self-driving technology developer. ElevenLabs, an AI voice generator, conducted two tender offers in under a year. The trend reflects a shift in how private companies manage employee expectations regarding financial rewards.

Viswanathan expects companies to remain private for 12 to 15 years, a timeline he does not anticipate changing. To prevent talented workers from leaving for public companies, he emphasized the need for regular liquidity opportunities for employees. The integration of the two platforms is intended to make these opportunities easier to implement and more frequent.

The partnership is part of a larger adjustment in the venture capital ecosystem. As the gap between Series C and an IPO widens, companies are seeking alternative methods to reward staff. The new tooling aims to reduce the administrative friction associated with these sales, making them more accessible to a wider range of private firms.