NEW YORK, March 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nasdaq Private Market (“NPM”) today announced the close of its first tender offer for employees since the company spun out of Nasdaq in 2021. The program provided eligible employees with the opportunity to sell a portion of their vested equity, offering meaningful liquidity while enabling NPM to continue scaling its platform and long-term growth strategy.
Structured liquidity programs – most commonly tender offers – are no longer just a late-stage phenomenon in private markets. Companies are increasingly adopting them earlier in their lifecycles, as leadership teams recognize a fundamental shift: equity without a visible path to liquidity is no longer enough to attract and retain top talent. This is especially true in fast-growing sectors such as AI, robotics, and defense tech, where competition for talent has never been more intense. Employees increasingly expect to see tangible returns on the years they invest in building high-growth companies.
“At NPM, we spend every day helping amazing companies design and execute liquidity programs for their employees and investors,” said Tom Callahan, CEO of NPM. “Launching our own employee tender is rewarding, as we get to offer our own employees the same liquidity benefits we have offered to more than 900 of the world’s most innovative companies over the past thirteen years. We believe tender programs are becoming a core part of how modern companies manage talent, reward long-term employees, and provide thoughtful liquidity while remaining private.”
Since its spinout from Nasdaq in 2021, NPM has built a comprehensive platform designed to bring greater structure and transparency to private markets. The company helps private companies facilitate and settle secondary transactions, including employee liquidity programs and investor-led secondary sales. NPM also provides opportunities for individuals to invest in private companies both directly and through funds, expanding access to private market investments. In addition, the company captures and analyzes transaction data from secondary markets, delivering insights that help investors and individuals with due diligence, valuation, and decision-making in private company investing.
Tender offers have evolved into a strategic tool that enables employees to participate sooner in the value they helped create, while allowing leadership teams to manage equity pools. As a result, “many private companies now treat tender programs as a core component of their equity and talent strategies – effectively becoming a modern employee benefit at venture-backed companies,” said Kevin Gsell, Managing Director and Head of Company Solutions at NPM.
NPM executed nearly $15 billion in tender offer volume in 2025, up from approximately $3 billion in tender offer volume in 2023, underscoring the increasing role structured liquidity programs are playing among private companies.
“By conducting our own employee tender offer, NPM is applying the same principles and market practices it supports for clients across the private company ecosystem,” said René Paula, CFO of NPM. “We’re using a structured program to efficiently manage our equity pool as we continue to hire and invest for growth.”
About Nasdaq Private Market (NPM)
Nasdaq Private Market provides liquidity, investment, wealth and data solutions for private companies, employees, and investors throughout each stage of the pre-IPO lifecycle. Since inception over a decade ago, NPM has executed more than $70 billion in transactional volume for 200,000+ individual eligible employee shareholders and investors across 900+ company-sponsored liquidity programs. Founded within Nasdaq, Inc. in 2013, today NPM is an independent company with strategic investments from Nasdaq, Allen & Company, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Cerity Partners, Citi, DRW Venture Capital, Goldman Sachs, HiJoJo Partners, Morgan Stanley, Optiver, UBS, and Wells Fargo. Learn more at www.nasdaqprivatemarket.com. Visit LinkedIn and X for the latest company news.
Media Contact Sam Tortora Chief Growth Officer and Chief Marketing Officer samantha.tortora@npm.com
