EquityZen has been operating in that market since 2013. The New York-based company operates a marketplace for shares of privately held companies, giving employees and other shareholders a way to sell stock before a company goes public or is acquired. Phil Haslett, who co-founded EquityZen and serves as its chief strategy officer, has had a front-row seat to the secondary market's evolution. Crunchbase News spoke with Haslett about what secondary-market pricing says about today's most sought-after startups, why AI companies are commanding premiums while many older startups trade at discounts, what the IPO market looks like beyond its biggest names, and why investors are taking a closer look at hard tech. Crunchbase News: The second quarter was one of the strongest venture-backed IPO quarters since 2021, but SpaceX drove much of that activity. If you remove SpaceX, how open is the IPO market for the typical late-stage startup' Phil Haslett: Generally, I'd say it's better than it was...
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