The key facts

  • Carta and NewView Capital combined their secondary-deal expertise and equity management platform to simplify tender offers.
  • According to NewView and Carta, over three years the number of tender offers at Series C and later startups will triple; 44 were conducted in the first half of 2026.
  • Tenders are run not only by the largest private companies: examples include HighTouch ($1.3 billion), Decagon, Wayve, ElevenLabs.

A partnership to simplify tender offers

Startups are staying private longer, and employees who receive part of their compensation in shares they cannot sell have almost no chance of early liquidity. In response, a growing number of late-stage startups are offering tender offers — deals in which employees (and often early investors) can sell a portion of their shares to an approved investor at a pre-determined price. To simplify this process, NewView recently entered a partnership with Carta, combining its experience structuring secondary deals with the equity management platform. NewView founder and managing partner Ravi Viswanathan presented the collaboration as a way to help startups launch and manage liquidity programs more smoothly.

A 'win for everyone' and a rise in deal counts

“We hope this partnership will make it easier for CEOs and companies to think about tenders,” Viswanathan said, adding that he wants founders to see early liquidity for employees as a “win-win-win” for workers, companies, and investors. According to a recent study by NewView Capital and Carta, over the past three years the number of tender offers at Series C and later startups is projected to triple. According to Viswanathan, tender offers are no longer run only by the most expensive private companies like OpenAI, Databricks, or Anduril. For example, last year his fund, which specializes in secondary deals alongside classic venture investments, ran a tender for HighTouch at a $1.3 billion valuation, when the marketing customization startup was seven years old.

The practice is still limited

At the same time, Carta and NewView found that the share of startups launching such programs remains small: in the first half of 2026, only 44 tender offers were executed. Viswanathan wants to encourage other startups to consider this tool, calling it an excellent means of retaining employees and boosting morale. According to him, ten years ago 'unicorn' status itself attracted talent, but today, with so many billion-dollar companies, that status is no longer as appealing. Running a tender, he noted, “is a chance to say that you will also get liquidity along our path.”

Examples and the long road to IPO

Among the companies that recently ran tender offers are the AI customer support startup Decagon, the autonomous driving technology developer Wayve, and the AI voice generator ElevenLabs, which executed two such offers in less than a year. “Companies stay private for 12–15 years. That is not changing,” Viswanathan said. “In that window, to prevent talent from draining from quality venture-backed companies to their public counterparts, we need to provide liquidity for employees.”