SharesPost Launches “Market Cap Monday” as a Central Resource for New Third-Party Research Reports on Private Company Valuations

Monthly Release of Private Company Research Remains Free to Registered SharesPost Members; March 7 Release Includes Cleantech, Social Media and Gaming Company Valuations

SAN BRUNO, Calif.--()--SharesPost, the online marketplace for private investments, today announced a regular, monthly distribution of its popular third-party research reports. The company’s first such monthly release, “Market Cap Monday,” takes place today and will fall on the first Monday of every calendar month moving forward.

The new monthly report release cycle will help provide secondary market participants with regular, free access to new and updated reports on the most exciting private companies. Reports posted today include BrightSource, eSolar, Linden Lab, RockYou, Suniva, Solyndra, TrueCar and Zynga, and are available on the company bulletin boards, respectively, or at http://www.sharespost.com/research. Registration as a SharesPost member is free, and registered members have full access to new and archived private company research.

The research helps SharesPost’s more than 60,000 members to value private companies as they contemplate transactions, allowing them significantly greater insight than has traditionally been available. Compiled by eight research providers, including neXtup Research and VC Experts, the reports cover everything from a company’s products and markets to estimated revenues to liquidation preferences and number of shares outstanding.

Highlights from this month’s new and/or updated reports include:

BrightSource, which provides clean, reliable and low cost solar energy for utility and industrial companies worldwide, is now valued at $868M, up 28 percent from August 2010 as a result of an improved market outlook and cash on hand via a new funding round. The company has more than 2.6GW of projects in the pipeline over the next several years, with purchase agreements from customers such as PG&E and SCE.

eSolar, which has developed a cost-effective utility-scale CSP power plant that is based on mass-manufactured components and designed for rapid construction, uniform modularity and unlimited scalability, is currently valued at $707M, up 12 percent from October 2010.

Linden Lab operates the Internet-based virtual world called Second Life, and is currently being valued at $337M, up three percent from November. This is partly due to new information on the value of Linden currency exchanged on Lindex. A majority of new Second Life users in recent years are from emerging economies, offering lower near term monetization potential while placing significant demand on the company's grid space.

RockYou, with more than 200M unique users and 15B monthly global impressions, is one of the first developers of social entertainment widgets. The company is currently being valued at up to $230M, down $115M from a previous estimate of $345M in November 2010. This reflects a decreased user base of more than 50 percent on Facebook.

Solyndra designs and manufactures photovoltaic systems for the commercial rooftop market. The company’s estimated market cap is up to $1627M, which is slightly below previous estimates to reflect Solyndra’s reduced production capacity. Solyndra has closed its older Fab 1 facility and has shifted production to the newer, more efficient and cost effective Fab 2 facility.

Suniva sells high efficiency solar cells at a lower cost than its competitors, and its cells are expected to achieve efficiency of more than 20 percent by end of next year, up from 18 percent now. The company is valued at up to $474M.

TrueCar, formerly Zag, is an online car-buying platform that is currently being valued at $335M, up 18 percent from October 2010, as a result of an improved market outlook and better than expected revenue performance. In 2011, TrueCar’s total light vehicle sales are expected to reach 12.9M, which is up 12 percent from 2010 sales.

Zynga, one of the largest developers of social entertainment widgets and games, boasts more than 275M monthly active users on Facebook alone. According to today’s updated research report, the company has an estimated market cap of $7.56B.

“SharesPost is delighted to be the only online marketplace offering access to hundreds of research reports on the industry’s leading private companies,” said David Weir, CEO at SharesPost. “‘Market Cap Monday’ is just another way that SharesPost demonstrates a commitment to making its online platform easy to use for members, as well as an effort to bring transparency and openness to the market for private company shares.”

Research posted on SharesPost.com is available to SharesPost members at no cost. Anyone may sign up for a free membership with SharesPost at https://www.sharespost.com/signup. The next “Market Cap Monday” will take place on Monday, April 4, 2011.

About SharesPost

SharesPost is the online marketplace for private investments. The company uses innovative technology to efficiently connect individual accredited investors, family offices and institutional money managers with high quality private investment opportunities.

SharesPost is not a registered broker-dealer or registered securities exchange. SharesPost is not registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For more information, please visit www.sharespost.com.

Contacts

Schwartz Communications
Jason Morris or Allison VanNest, 415-512-0770
sharespost@schwartzcomm.com

Release Summary

On the first Monday of every calendar month, SharesPost will provide secondary market participants with regular, free access to new and updated reports on the most exciting private companies

Contacts

Schwartz Communications
Jason Morris or Allison VanNest, 415-512-0770
sharespost@schwartzcomm.com