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The New Exit In Venture Capital, Darian M. Ibrahim

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article is the first to explore the emergence of a potentially game-changing third exit option in venture capital: secondary markets for the sale of individual ownership interests in private start-ups and venture capital funds.6 Unlike IPOs and trade sales, secondary markets operate at the individual investor level rather than at the start-up level. Because investors have different liquidity needs, an individual-investor option offers exit to those who need it-for example, to the serial entrepreneur who wishes to start another venture or to the VC whose fund is about to expire and who must return capital to his investors. Secondary …