AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CVEX, the first automated stock market for private companies, has exited stealth mode in preparation for its upcoming invite-only beta launch.
CVEX, which previously raised $2.4 million in seed funding, is applying technology and automation to make the buying and selling of pre-IPO private company shares more efficient, more transparent and less costly.
“Other private market platforms are still driven by largely manual processes,” said Craig Aumann, co-founder and CEO of CVEX. “They rely on brokers to solicit the sale and purchase of secondary shares and are sometimes augmented by online bulletin boards. Our fully automated exchange approach modernizes how secondary private company equities are traded to ultimately deliver liquidity better, faster and cheaper than existing models.”
The CVEX platform is powered by a matching engine that facilitates auction, request-for-quote (RFQ) and continuous trading models—a first for private markets.
“As venture-backed companies wait longer for IPOs or forego them altogether, the need to provide employees and early investors a better liquidity solution grows stronger,” said Chris Belew, CTO at CVEX. “CVEX has developed a user-friendly interface on top of our robust matching engine that provides an order book and automatically determines optimal pricing based on supply and demand for stocks transacting on our platform. Algorithms determine prices and allocations, which we think is the fairest and most efficient way to conduct these transactions.”
“CVEX is unique to the secondary market for two main reasons,” said Andrea Walne, partner at Manhattan Venture Partners and a CVEX adviser. “The company’s founders and executive team are seasoned veterans in stock exchange infrastructure, making it the only exchange provider supporting private company assets built for equity traders by equity traders. Just as importantly, the CVEX platform is designed for scalability, which gives traders in private and alternative assets the high-volume trade capabilities that you’d typically only see in public exchanges.”
CVEX intends to launch an invite-only beta this fall for brokers and funds already active in the private stock secondary market, as well as issuers that meet the following criteria:
- Privately held with a valuation of at least $250 million.
- Growing 30 percent or more year over year in the financial metric most meaningful to the company’s core business.
- Has at least one top-tier VC or institution as an investor.
Brokers, funds and companies interested in participating in the invite-only beta can learn more and apply on the CVEX website at www.cvex.com.
About CVEX
CVEX is applying technology and automation to create the most advanced trading platform for pre-IPO private company equities in the U.S. market today. CVEX is based in the rapidly growing technology and innovation hub of Austin, Texas.
At this time, CVEX is not conducting any activity that would require registration as a broker-dealer in the United States. CVEX Markets LLC is currently applying for a U.S. license to offer and sell securities in the United States. U.S. regulatory approval for such activities is currently pending.
