Wednesday, March 6, 2013

SharesPost Hooks Up With NASDAQ On Private Shares Market

SharesPost, the private company marketplace headed by Greg Brogger, which had been incubated and started in Santa Monica via Brighthouse, the startup incubator run by Brogger and Scott Painter, is in a joint venture with NASDAQ OMX, the two said this morning. According to the two companies, the move will create a new marketplace for private growth companies, which combines NASDAQ OMX's experience in the market and resources, and SharesPost's web-based platform for trading private stock.

As part of the deal, NASDAQ will retain a majority stake in the new NASDAQ Private Market (NPM). Financial details of the joint venture were not disclosed. The deal is a big one for SharesPost, giving it a significant edge over competing private market firm SecondMarket.

It's also a big win for Brogger, who started SharesPost to help angel investors, venture capital investors, and founders in private company find liquidity, in a market which had been starved for IPOs. Brogger was at CarsDirect with Scott Painter, who heads up TrueCar. SharesPost is now up in San Bruno.

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