Carta and NewView partner to boost early liquidity for startup employees

Tender offers let private-company staff sell shares before an exit; the firms want more startups to run them

By LineZotpaper AI staff

Published23 October 2026

Read Time2 min

Sources2 outlets

Equity platform Carta and secondary-investment firm NewView have formed a partnership aimed at making it easier for private startups to offer employees early liquidity through tender offers, transactions in which workers sell a portion of their shares at a predetermined price to an approved investor.

The collaboration combines NewView's secondary deal-structuring experience with Carta's equity platform, according to the companies. Ravi Viswanathan, founder and managing partner of NewView, said the goal is to help startups launch and manage liquidity programs more seamlessly. "The hope is that this partnership will make it easier for CEOs and companies to think about tenders," he said.

Tender offers have been growing among late-stage startups. A recent study from NewView Capital and Carta projects that over the past three years, such offerings will have increased threefold for Series C and later-stage companies. Viswanathan said the startups running tenders are no longer only the most valuable private companies such as OpenAI, Databricks or Anduril. Last year, his firm led a tender for HighTouch, a marketing customization startup, at a $1.3 billion valuation when the company was seven years old.

Recent tender offers include AI customer support startup Decagon, self-driving technology developer Wayve, and AI voice generator ElevenLabs, which executed two offerings in less than a year.

Despite the growth, the overall share of startups launching these offerings remains small. Carta and NewView found just 44 tenders were executed in the first half of 2026. Viswanathan wants to encourage more startups to consider them, calling tenders excellent retention tools and morale boosters.

"The companies are staying private for 12 to 15 years. That's not changing," he said. "In that interim, so that we don't have this talent drain from high-quality venture-backed companies into their public counterparts, we need to make sure that there is liquidity for the employees."

Analysis

Why This Matters

Employees at private startups often hold stock they cannot sell for a decade or more; tender offers give them a rare chance at early liquidity.
Tender offers are projected to have tripled for late-stage startups over the past three years, signalling a shift in how private companies approach compensation.
If adoption spreads beyond the largest unicorns, it could change how startups attract and retain talent while staying private.

Background

Startups are staying private far longer than in previous cycles, leaving employees who take part of their pay as stock with little ability to cash out before an IPO or acquisition. Tender offers have emerged as one mechanism to bridge that gap, letting employees and sometimes early investors sell a slice of their shares at a set price to an approved buyer. The new partnership between Carta and NewView aims to make that process simpler and more common.

Key Perspectives

NewView: Ravi Viswanathan argues tenders are a "win-win-win" for workers, companies and investors, and calls them powerful retention and morale tools. He notes that with many billion-dollar companies now competing for talent, unicorn status alone is no longer enough to attract employees.

Startups: A growing minority are running tenders, including Decagon, Wayve and ElevenLabs, with some repeat offerings. But the overall numbers remain low, with only 44 executed in the first half of 2026.

Critics/Skeptics: The small share of startups running tenders suggests obstacles remain, whether from complexity, cost or reluctance to give employees early exits. The partnership is an attempt to address that hesitancy, but adoption will depend on whether founders see it as worth the effort.

What to Watch

Whether the number of tender offers accelerates after the partnership, and whether smaller, younger startups begin running them.
Adoption data from Carta and NewView, including the projected threefold increase for Series C and later-stage companies.
Whether repeat tenders, like ElevenLabs' two offerings in under a year, become a standard pattern for high-growth private companies.

Sources

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 11 supported.

Show each claim

SupportedCarta and NewView partnered to make it easier for startups to offer employees early liquidity through tender offers.TechCrunch: “To simplify the tender process, NewView recently partnered with Carta.”
SupportedViswanathan said, “The hope is that this partnership will make it easier for CEOs and companies to think about tenders.”TechCrunch: ““The hope is that this partnership will make it easier for CEOs and companies to think about tenders,” he said.”
Partly supportedThe firms want more startups to run tender offers.TechCrunch: “So Viswanathan wants to encourage other startups to consider tender offers”
SupportedTender offers let employees sell a portion of their shares at a predetermined price to an approved investor.TechCrunch: “These are transactions that allow employees (and, often, early investors) to sell a portion of their shares for a predetermined price to an approved investor.”
SupportedThe partnership combines NewView’s secondary deal-structuring experience with Carta’s equity platform.TechCrunch: “The collaboration combines NewView’s secondary deal-structuring experience with Carta’s equity platform.”
SupportedViswanathan said the partnership would help startups launch and manage liquidity programs more seamlessly.TechCrunch: “Ravi Viswanathan, founder and managing partner of NewView, pitches this as a way to help startups launch and manage liquidity programs more seamlessly.”
SupportedA study projects that tender offers will increase threefold over the past three years for Series C and later-stage startups.TechCrunch: “Over the past three years, tender offers are projected to increase threefold for Series C and later-stage startups, according to a recent study from NewView Capital and Carta.”
SupportedViswanathan said startups running tenders are no longer only the most valuable private companies, citing OpenAI, Databricks and Anduril as examples.TechCrunch: “Plus, the startups that do choose tender offers are no longer just the most valuable private companies like OpenAI, Databricks, or Anduril, according to Viswanathan.”
SupportedLast year, NewView led a tender for HighTouch at a $1.3 billion valuation when the startup was seven years old.TechCrunch: “For instance, last year, his firm, which specializes in secondary deals along with typical venture investments, led a tender for a HighTouch at a $1.3 billion valuation, when the marketing customization startup was seven years old.”
SupportedRecent tender offers include Decagon, Wayve and ElevenLabs, which executed two offerings in less than a year.TechCrunch: “Some of the companies that recently held tender offers include AI customer support startup Decagon , self-driving tech developer Wayve , and AI voice generator ElevenLabs , which executed two such offerings in less than a year.”
SupportedCarta and NewView found that 44 tenders were executed in the first half of 2026.TechCrunch: “However, Carta and NewView also found that the overall share of startups launching these offerings remains relatively small, with just 44 executed in the first half of 2026.”
SupportedViswanathan said, “The companies are staying private for 12 to 15 years. That's not changing,” and argued that employees need liquidity to prevent a talent drain to public companies.TechCrunch: ““The companies are staying private for 12 to 15 years. That’s not changing,” Viswanathan said. “In that interim, so that we don’t have this talent drain from high-quality venture-backed companies into their public counterparts, we need to make sure that there is liquidity for the employees.””