Jeremy Coller spent 36 years arguing that private equity needed a second-hand market. Now that the market is worth trillions, EQT is paying up to $3.7 billion to own the firm that started it.
Equitybee is a financial technology marketplace that connects startup employees who can't afford to exercise their vested stock options with accredited investors willing to fund the exercise in exchange for a share of the future upside. Founded in 2017 by three childhood friends and headquartered in Palo Alto, the platform lets employees convert paper equity into real ownership - or cash - without waiting for an IPO, while giving investors a rare way to buy into pre-IPO companies they otherwise couldn't reach.