OpenAI’s tender offer

OpenAI is giving employees the opportunity to sell up to $1.5 billion worth of shares in a new tender offer to SoftBank. The offer price is based on OpenAI’s recent valuation of $157 billion, established in October.
Revolut is letting former staff sell off their equity in the business, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg. Former employees who were at the UK fintech for at least 24 months and hold more than $100k in vested shares would be able to sell around 5% of their portfolio.

Ramp joins the wave of secondary share sales

The corporate expense platform is offering secondary shares at a valuation of $11 billion—a 35% increase from its 2022 valuation.

Klarna has extended its profitability streak into the third quarter of this year.

The company attributes significant cost savings to its AI-driven initiatives, which include a customer service chatbot powered by OpenAI. Launched in January, the bot has reportedly replaced the work of 700 human agents. Klarna has also utilized AI to cut marketing expenses by generating images and eliminating tasks like translations previously outsourced to external firms.
Over the first nine months of 2024, Klarna reduced sales and marketing expenses by 16% to $161 million, while customer service and operations costs dropped 14% to $140 million.
However, Klarna’s AI wins haven’t shielded it from rising costs in other areas. Loan defaults surged 44%, and funding costs—what Klarna pays to borrow the money it lends—rose by 67%. Despite its advancements in customer service and marketing, Klarna remains fundamentally a lender, facing challenges tied to credit risk and market conditions.

Alan Vaksman talks about fintech secondaries for Sifted

N26 has announced achieving profitability, marking a significant milestone for the fintech. In a recent Sifted article, Alan Vaksman explores how venture-backed fintechs reaching profitability impacts their secondary market liquidity, offering fresh insights into this evolving landscape.

Pony.ai, the Chinese autonomous driving tech firm, made its debut on the Nasdaq Global Select Market with an IPO priced at $13 per American Depositary Share (ADS)—the top of its $11-$13 range. However, the stock closed below its listing price on the first day of trading.
Meanwhile, Indian grocery delivery startup Zepto secured $350 million in its third funding round in five months, maintaining its valuation at $5 billion.

Secondary Market Activity in November

November saw a significant surge in secondary market activity, with buyers becoming notably more aggressive. Bid offers accounted for 40% of the total listed volume, up from 25% in October. Notably, the bid volume for AI companies surpassed the ask volume, highlighting strong demand in this sector.
Top 10 Most Active Companies on the Secondary Market
Ranked by activity score, which considers listed volume, market depth, and bid share: