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SecondMarket's pilot program to create a market for hard-to-sell stock.
June 29 -
The OTC Markets Group has opened up its community bank marketplace to privately held institutions, offering a chance for investors to monetize their holdings without selling the bank.
February 19 -
Critics concede Bitcoin's innovations may change finance but predict the system itself isn't long for this world. Nasdaq is challenging that idea by not only testing Bitcoin's much-vaunted blockchain technology, but doing so on the Bitcoin network.
May 19
Nasdaq has acquired SecondMarket Solutions, a New York software-as-a-service provider that focuses on helping companies prepare for an IPO.
Nasdaq said it will integrate SecondMarket into its Nasdaq Private Market subsidiary, which is based in San Francisco. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SecondMarket, whose private markets platform aims to help firms prepare for initial public offerings, said its acquisition will allow private companies to attract and retain talent by providing secondary liquidity and equity management services.
“As companies extend their pre-IPO lives, they face increasing pressure to provide liquidity to employees and early investors,” said Bill Siegel, SecondMarket's chief executive, who will lead the business unit at Nasdaq.
The acquisition coincides with the Nasdaq initiative to integrate Bitcoin technology into its private markets platform, by the end of the year. The Bitcoin integration is also an opportunity “to serve the equity needs of companies throughout their time in the private arena,” Siegel said.
SecondMarket, founded in 2004, previously ran a broker-dealer platform for investors in privately held banks; the platform has since been discontinued. SecondMarket's founder, Barry Silbert, remains chief executive of its former sister company, Digital Currency Group.
