Equidate Announces the Tech30 Capped Index and Spins Out Asset Manager EQUIAM

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Equidate, Inc. (Equidate), the leading stock market for private companies, today launched the Tech30 Capped Index on the heels of the Company's $50 million Series B financing and appointment of Kelly Rodriques as Chief Executive Officer. Concurrent with the announcement, Equidate has spun out the company's asset management arm, EQUIAM.

The global market value of tech unicorns has grown exponentially over the past six years to more than $850B today, with parallel growth in the volumes of shares trading annually in the secondary markets. As the leading platform for secondary market trades, Equidate has leveraged its proprietary trade data to create the Equidate Tech30 Capped Index.

The Equidate Tech30 Capped Index tracks the valuations of the 30 largest U.S. private technology companies based on public filings, as well as proprietary Equidate trade data. These factors are weighted against measures, including transaction recency and transaction size relative to the total valuation of each company in the index. The index currently tracks Uber, Airbnb, SpaceX, WeWork, Stripe, Lyft, and 24 other top private companies. No single company comprises more than 5 percent of the total index.

Kelly Rodriques, CEO, Equidate said, "Equidate has reached the scale required to launch an index that includes real transaction and market data, not just venture financing valuations. As the pre-IPO asset class has become integral to the new economy, this is critical to provide transparency and access to a global investor base."

EQUIAM's flagship fund, the EQUIAM Private Tech30 Fund, is based on the Equidate Tech30 Capped Index. Accordingly, the fund represents the world's first opportunity for accredited investors to invest in a passive, index-based diversified fund that provides exposure to a basket of the 30 leading private technology unicorns.

"This fund is all about efficient and cost-effective access – providing a global and broader pool of investors with diversified exposure to one of the best performing asset classes. Our partnership with Equidate provides us with valuation data and the ability to secure, low-friction private shareholder investments," said Ziad Makkawi, Founder & CEO, EQUIAM. "The lines between public and private markets continue to blur and EQUIAM intends to be at the forefront of this transformation," he added.

"This type of fund has never been possible until today," said Sohail Prasad, Co-Founder, Equidate, and Executive Committee Member, EQUIAM. "In the early 2000's, tech companies would IPO earlier in their lifecycle – which provided average investors with access to these companies' early, and to rapid growth returns through the public markets. By the time most tech companies IPO today, their growth has already begun to slow and returns have begun to diminish."

About Equidate, Inc.

Equidate, Inc. is the premier stock market for private, pre-IPO companies. Established in 2014, the company empowers investors and shareholders by enabling access and liquidity in the private market. Equidate, Inc. is led by Y Combinator alumni and backed by top investors including Peter Thiel and Tim Draper. Equidate, Inc.'s platform allows employees and investors of growing startups to liquidate a portion of their shares, and provides private and institutional investors access to top companies like Spotify, Snapchat, and Square before their IPO.

About EQUIAM

EQUIAM is a leader in innovative private equity fund management focused on passive strategies in private tech. Established as a spin-off of Equidate Inc. in 2018, and in partnership with Ziad Makkawi a financial services veteran with over 30 years experience in asset management, private equity and investment banking, and Najam Kidwai a tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and investor with 25 years of experience. The company is committed to creating funds that rely on private securities, particularly those in the late-stage technology sector, as their primary investment class. EQUIAM's flagship fund is the EQUIAM Private Tech30 Fund. 

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SOURCE Equidate, Inc.

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