EquityZen

EquityZen was founded in 2013 by Atish Davda, Shriram Bhashyam and Phil Haslett in New York City. From its outset, the firm was designed to allow employees of private companies to sell their equity to accredited investors. It started out as part of the 500 Startups accelerator program in the fall of 2013. EquityZen received seed funding in January 2014 and as of September 2015 had raised Series A funding from undisclosed investors. It has raised $6.5 million in outside financing, including a $3M injection in 2017 led by Tim Draper's Draper Associates. The financial technology firm was mentioned in the 2015 Forbes' Fintech 50 list. In January 2026, three months after agreeing to buy EquityZen, it was reported that Morgan Stanley had completed the transaction. ==Service==

EquityZen operates a marketplace in which employee shareholders in private companies can make their equity available to outside investors. In addition to traditional share transfers, EquityZen introduced a new offering in the private shares market by working with the issuer to register a transfer of shares so employees and early investors can sell a portion of shares for cash without having to wait until an IPO or acquisition. The firm works exclusively with companies that have already raised capital from large, institutional investors. The minimum investment amount for investors is $20,000. Investors outside of the US have invested in private companies. EquityZen has transacted in over half of the largest 25 private Venture Capital-backed companies, such as prominent companies including Lyft, Evernote, and AppNexus. ==References==