SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Battery East, an institutionally-focused financial services firm with a core expertise in facilitating private stock transactions, announced today it has officially opened for business, and an executive of a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm has joined as a Managing Director.
Battery East was founded with the goal of bringing transparency and an institutional approach to the secondary market for stock transactions of leading private technology companies. The secondary sale process often begins with a founder or exiting executive seeking partial liquidity in his or her company’s stock. By working directly with company management, Battery East serves the liquidity needs of the individual seller while supporting the company by adding strategic capital partners that significantly improve the company’s capitalization table.
Battery East co-founders Barrett Cohn, a former start-up CEO and Entrepreneur in Residence at VC firm Maveron, and Michael Sobel, a former Managing Director in BlackRock’s Trading and Liquidity Strategies team, began operations in October 2013, and have already advised or managed more than $300 million in transactions.
In response to a robust and growing market in these transactions, Howard Caro will join the firm as a Managing Director. Caro most recently served as General Counsel at Founders Fund, which he helped grow into a multi-billion dollar firm, and one of the most respected VC firms in Silicon Valley.
“The end of the secondary private stock sale shouldn’t just be a transaction – it should merge the needs of employees, with those of their companies and the buyers. Battery East is a pioneer in building a structured process that will give leading technology companies access to some of the largest investors in the world,” Caro said. “Having been a part of these transactions at Founders Fund, I’m excited to play a role in the earliest stages of this transformation here in Silicon Valley.”
“Battery East is driving a revival of secondary private offerings through a transparent process that helps employees realize the value of some of their equity, while simultaneously helping companies and their CFOs take the chaos out of the secondary market process,” said Cohn. “Leading institutional investors that are deploying billions of dollars into late-stage tech investments need a partner to help facilitate these transactions. That’s Battery East.”
“The secondary offering process we have structured meets the exacting standards of the some of the most recognized financial institutions in the world, many of whom are actively increasing the velocity of their funding of pre-IPO companies,” Sobel said. “We are presenting them with company-supported opportunities to investment in leading private companies that will allow these institutions to become strategic partners as the companies prepare for major liquidity events, such as raising subsequent financings or preparing for a public offering.”
Battery East has already established working relationships and engagements with many of Institutional Investor’s top 25 investment companies, and is in discussions with more. The company plans to announce further additions to its leadership ranks in the coming weeks.
