A Regulated Platform for Buying and Selling Pre-IPO Shares
Buy private company stock. Invest through NPM Funds. Leverage institutional-grade secondary market data.
Transactions
Companies
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Ways to Invest
Ways to Invest in Private Company Stock
Significant value creation can happen while companies are still private. Participate in the potential growth of private companies before they go public through SecondMarket.
Buy private company stock directly from employees and existing shareholders.
Invest in funds with exposure to a specific pre-IPO company. Lower minimums. Transparent fees. Simplified process.
Exclusive access to company-sponsored private market programs including tender offers and structured liquidity events.
Platform Features Built for Private Market Investors
Research, trade, and manage private company stock on one platform for individual accredited investors.
Access private markets from any device, including data and resources that make it easier to invest in private markets
Manage your Nasdaq Private Market on the web. Monitor your watchlist, review pricing data, check trade status, access learning tools, receive push notifications on order activity, and access educational content about private market investing.
Centralized secondary market platform with a wide variety of orders in pre-IPO companies. Browse, bid, negotiate, and trade.
A single trading venue for private company stock. Place orders to buy private stock, match with existing order, or negotiate directly with sellers. All activity managed through one dashboard on Nasdaq Private Market.
Global network of employee shareholders, early investors, and holders of private company stock across 50+ countries.
Nasdaq Private Market connects you to supply from employees, founders, VCs, and other existing shareholders in private companies. Depth of counterparties across more than 50 countries that may help create more trading opportunities.
Follow private companies. Get notified when new orders, NPM Funds, or trading windows open on your watchlist.
Set custom alerts for specific companies. Track pricing changes, new seller activity, and trading window announcements. Stay informed without checking the platform manually.
AI-native agent built on years of private market expertise that may help simplify the investment process and provides education every step of the way.
Powered by proprietary domain knowledge and data, the Private Market Agent helps individual investors navigate private company stock research, understand secondary market pricing, evaluate pre-IPO investment opportunities, and make informed decisions with guided context at every stage of the trading process.
NPM Price 409A valuations, mutual fund marks, financing history, and waterfall analysis — derived primarily from transaction data rather than solely modeled estimates.
Nasdaq Private Market’s proprietary pricing product. Trade-level secondary market data from real transactions. Access pricing history, Form D filings, valuations, and company fundamentals.
How it Works
How to Invest in Private Companies on SecondMarket
Four steps from sign-up to settlement for individual accredited investors.
01
The onboarding process guides you through identity verification and account setup with reminders at each step. Our team is easy to reach if you need help. Browse private companies and private market data as soon as setup is complete.
02
Build a watchlist, set price alerts, and track private companies you’re interested in. All research tools and pricing data are embedded directly into the trading platform — historical trade activity, financing history, and more.
03
Post a new bid on the secondary market order book and wait for a seller to match. Respond directly to an existing seller’s offer and negotiate terms. Match instantly with a standing offer at the listed price. Or invest through an NPM Fund for managed exposure to a specific private company.
04
Average settlement: 30–60 days depending on company approval timelines and equity structure. You receive trade confirmations and tax documentation. Our operations team keeps all parties informed throughout the process.
Why Investors Use Nasdaq Private market
The only secondary market platform that combines regulated trading, institutional data, and patented settlement.
Registered broker-dealer. SEC-registered. SOC 2 certified. Regulated infrastructure backed by Nasdaq.
SecondMarket operates through NPM Securities, LLC. You’re trading on a regulated marketplace with institutional-grade compliance, not an unregistered platform.
Every transaction requires the issuing company’s approval before it closes.
Transfer policies, right of first refusal, and board approvals are built into the settlement workflow. Unlike platforms that trade around issuers, SecondMarket coordinates with the company on every transaction.
Fees can be customized based on the transaction. Fees are disclosed prior to trade execution.
SecondMarket’s fee model keeps costs lower than platforms that charge sellers high single-digit percentages. Fee structures are transparent and disclosed before you commit to a trade.
Tape D trade history, 409A valuations, mutual fund marks, bid/ask levels, and waterfall analysis inside the platform.
Proprietary secondary market pricing data from NPM Data and Intelligence. Financing history, company fundamentals, and pricing analytics — not behind a separate paywall, embedded directly in the trading platform.
The only secondary market platform with patented transfer and settlement infrastructure in the private securities market.
Our technology structures trade data, coordinates company approvals, manages documentation, and settles shares — from a $25K first trade to a multi-million dollar block.
Buyers and sellers across 50+ countries. Accredited investors, family offices, VCs, hedge funds, banks, and brokers.
Depth of demand from individual accredited investors, institutional participants, asset managers, venture capital firms, and financial institutions. A global network that benefits every participant.
Data + tools
Private Market Data + Research Tools
Institutional investors have historically had broader access to private market data. SecondMarket gives every investor the same tools, embedded in the platform.
Experienced program specialists guide every detail, from setup to participant support.
Proprietary pricing data from Nasdaq Private Market. Historical trade-level prices, active bids and offers, and pricing trend analysis for private companies traded on SecondMarket.
Compare secondary market prices to the company’s most recent 409A fair market valuation.
See how the price investors are paying on the secondary market compares to the company’s internal valuation. A reference point for evaluating whether current pricing reflects fundamentals.
How public mutual funds value their private holdings — a reference point for pricing analysis.
Track marks from public mutual funds that hold positions in private companies. These valuations offer an independent data point to compare against secondary market pricing and 409A valuations.
Price per share, capital raised, and estimated valuations from each funding round.
Review a company’s full financing history including Series rounds, total capital raised, price per share at each stage, and estimated valuations — sourced from Form D filings and NPM data.
How capital structures affect shareholder returns at different exit valuations.
Explore breakpoints based on exit values and see how liquidation preferences, share class structures, and distribution terms affect what each shareholder receives at different exit scenarios.
Track positions, compare cost basis to current marks, and monitor order status in one dashboard.
A consolidated portfolio view of your private stock holdings. Monitor estimated valuations, review transaction history, and track pending trades alongside your active orders.
What Every Private Market Investor Should Know
Private company stock carries real risks that differ from public markets. Understand these before you invest.
Not traded on a public exchange. No guarantee you can sell when or at the price you want. Holding periods can be long.
Private companies have fewer reporting requirements than public companies. Financial information available for analysis may be limited.
Secondary market prices are driven by supply and demand. They may not reflect the company’s actual financial condition.
Some companies never IPO or get acquired. You can lose your entire investment.
Every SecondMarket trade requires issuer approval. The company may decline, restrict, or exercise right of first refusal.
Private stock transactions have tax implications. Consult your own tax, legal, and financial advisors before investing.
Frequently Asked Questions
An accredited investor is an individual or entity that meets specific financial thresholds set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For individuals, the most common qualifications are: annual income exceeding $200,000 ($300,000 jointly with a spouse) for the two most recent years, or a net worth exceeding $1,000,000 excluding your primary residence. Holders of certain FINRA licenses (Series 7, Series 65, or Series 82) also qualify. The accreditation requirement exists because private company stock carries higher risk and lower liquidity than public securities, and the SEC wants to ensure participants have the financial sophistication to evaluate those risks. NPM verifies accreditation during onboarding.
On SecondMarket, individual accredited investors can buy private company stock by creating a free account, completing accreditation verification, and browsing the secondary marketplace. Once active, you can place buy orders on the order book, respond to existing seller offers, match directly with standing offers, or negotiate with counterparties through the platform’s negotiation tracker. You can also invest through NPM Funds for managed exposure to a specific pre-IPO company. SecondMarket’s patented settlement technology handles documentation, company approvals, and share transfer once terms are agreed.
Minimum trade sizes on SecondMarket vary by company, transaction type, and investment structure. Direct share purchases and NPM Fund investments may have different minimums. SecondMarket’s marketplace is designed to be accessible to individual accredited investors, not just institutions — contact our team for current thresholds and available opportunities for specific private companies.
Nasdaq Private Market, operates through NPM Securities, LLC — a registered broker-dealer. The platform is SOC 2 certified. Nasdaq Private Market has facilitated billions of dollars in secondary market transactions across 700+ private companies. Every trade on the platform requires company approval, and the settlement infrastructure is patented. Transactions occur through a regulated broker-dealer framework.
Nasdaq Private Market’s SecondMarket platform connects individual accredited investors to a global secondary marketplace for private company stock. After creating your free account and verifying accreditation, you can browse hundreds of pre-IPO companies, review proprietary pricing data (Tape D), place buy orders, negotiate with sellers, or invest through NPM Funds. The platform provides institutional-grade data, a regulated trading venue, and patented settlement technology — the same infrastructure that institutional investors use, now accessible to qualified individuals.
SecondMarket’s secondary marketplace features hundreds of orders in private companies across technology, artificial intelligence, fintech, healthcare, defense, space, and other highgrowth sectors. Trending companies on the platform include SpaceX, OpenAI, Databricks, Anduril, Stripe, Ramp, Canva, Discord, Rippling, and many more. Availability changes as new companies are added and existing inventory shifts. Create a free account to browse the full marketplace and set up watchlist alerts.
Direct share purchases on SecondMarket give you actual ownership of the underlying private company stock. You hold the shares, you control when you want to place a sell order. NPM Funds are professionally managed investment vehicles that each provide exposure to a specific preIPO company through a fund structure. Funds typically offer lower minimum investment thresholds and simplified administration — you invest into the fund, and the fund holds the shares. Some investors use both approaches — buying direct shares in companies where they want full control of their position, and investing through NPM Funds when they want a simpler path into a specific company.
Secondary market pricing for private company shares is driven by supply and demand among qualified buyers and sellers. Prices are established through negotiations between counterparties or through matched orders on SecondMarket’s order book. The price you see may differ from the company’s most recent 409A valuation or last funding round price — sometimes higher, sometimes lower, depending on market conditions and investor sentiment. SecondMarket provides Tape D pricing data, including historical trade prices, active bid/ask levels, and mutual fund marks, to help you assess fair value. Past pricing is not a guarantee of future values.
The timeline for private stock transactions depends on several factors, including company approval processes, documentation requirements, and share structure complexity. On average, a trade on SecondMarket takes 30 to 60 days from the time buyer and seller agree on terms to final settlement. Some transactions close faster, while others — particularly those requiring board approval or involving complex equity structures — may take longer.
