--- title: The State of the Private Markets & Covid description: EquityZen's CEO Atish Davda shares his views on the evolving private market landscape and opportunities for investors and shareholders in pre-IPO companies image: https://blog.equityzen.com/hubfs/EquityZen_Blog_State%20of%20the%20Private%20Markets.jpg --- [![EquityZen](https://blog.equityzen.com/hubfs/equityzen-logo.svg "EquityZen")](https://equityzen.com/) - [Investments](https://equityzen.com/explore/) - [Explore](https://equityzen.com/explore-private-market/) - How it Works - [Investors](https://equityzen.com/investor/) - [Shareholders](https://equityzen.com/shareholder/) - [Institutions](https://equityzen.com/institutions/) - [Issuers](https://equityzen.com/issuers/) - [Financial Advisors](https://equityzen.com/financial-advisors/) - [Insights](https://blog.equityzen.com/) - [Login](https://equityzen.com/accounts/login/) - [Sign Up](https://equityzen.com/accounts/register/) [Back to insights](https://blog.equityzen.com) [Market Views](https://blog.equityzen.com/tag/market-views) [From Our Founders](https://blog.equityzen.com/tag/from-our-founders) # The State of the Private Markets: 2020 ![Atish Davda](https://blog.equityzen.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202025-11-12%20at%203.15.11%20PM.png?width=96&height=96&name=Screenshot%202025-11-12%20at%203.15.11%20PM.png) Written by Atish Davda • May 29, 2020 • 4 min read ![EquityZen state of the private market blog with view of forest with sun](https://blog.equityzen.com/hs-fs/hubfs/EquityZen_Blog_State%20of%20the%20Private%20Markets.jpg?width=1318&height=736&name=EquityZen_Blog_State%20of%20the%20Private%20Markets.jpg) In this article Like this article? Up for a while, then down, then back up. The pandemic and attendant market volatility have taken public market investors on a roller coaster ride. On the private market side, we have watched shareholders and investors respond to these swings in familiar ways. Shareholders, once holding out to see the S&P at 3,500, are becoming more interested in selling what might now be one of their most valuable assets, their private company stockholdings. Institutional investors, previously balking at what they perceived to be inflated pre-IPO valuations, are now entering the market in search of proven company exposure at modest prices. More to come on this later.  For now, the news of the day is consolidation. In times of economic uncertainty, once fierce rivals can find themselves joining hands. The pre-IPO secondaries market, unique as it is, is no different in this respect. Two weeks ago, we saw two industry players combine forces, in a transaction they say will enable improved service and transparency for clients and partners alike. The growth, and pace of change, in this industry over the past decade has been staggering. The pressure to innovate remains as strong as ever. As new players enter the market, others are gobbled up. Eight years ago, the private markets, and my life, looked a lot different. I held shares in promising pre-IPO companies that I was hoping to turn into cash to buy my girlfriend (now wife) a wedding ring. While the sales proceeds would have been a life changing sum for me, the transaction size was too small for traditional brokers or then-typical secondary investors to entertain. It was this experience, and this disappointment, that led me to launch EquityZen in 2013. It is also the reason that, to this day, not only does EquityZen maintain the lowest transaction minimums in the industry, but we constantly drive them lower. Having conducted more than 35,000 transactions in over 400 unique companies1, we may be ahead of others, yet hungry to get more done. Every day, the hardest working team in FinTech comes to the office searching for ways to better serve our clients. This means providing more seamless liquidity for shareholders so major life events don’t get put on hold, providing investment opportunities in a once closed-off asset class, and equipping issuers with the liquidity tools they need to attract and retain talent in an increasingly competitive labor market. We have shied away from fragile transaction structures designed to circumvent that major stakeholder: the issuer. So, despite the large of number of dollars that flow through those structures each year—some with meager principal-protection insurance, others without even that—every share transfer on EquityZen’s platform bakes in issuer approval and culminates in the transfer of the underlying shares at the time of investment, not years later at exit. EquityZen is proud to be, now, the only platform that requires share certificates upon transfer, giving each issuer a prominent seat at the table in delivering controlled liquidity to their shareholders. EquityZen remains resolute in our commitment to grow this business, and lead this industry, in partnership with issuers. Our approach makes a world of difference: if you are an investor, this means you own an asset that holds the actual shares, not a promise of them; if you are a seller, this means you can sleep at night knowing you have transacted in accordance with the company’s rules; if you are the issuer, you know your shareholder has complied with the transfer restrictions you put in place. In addition to our work with traditional business stakeholders, EquityZen is also proud to have engaged regulators, and where appropriate, advocated for reform, to ensure that our industry conducts itself in a responsible manner that is worthy of expanded investor access. Since the beginning, we have strived to bring about a new pre-IPO reality: Private Markets for the Public We keep reading about dramatic private market movements and how new entrants or combined entities will bring about the future of pre-IPO investing. I invite anyone who is interested to join EquityZen to experience that future -- today.   Note: Updated as of December 2022 Join Investors and Shareholders Exploring the Private Markets Today [![Get Started](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/20754585/8e691282-6ef2-4809-87ba-5604efc0edbe.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/20754585/8e691282-6ef2-4809-87ba-5604efc0edbe) ### Related Articles ![EquityZen Chooses Stripe Financial Connections](https://blog.equityzen.com/hs-fs/hubfs/shutterstock_1257663727.jpg?width=812&height=446&name=shutterstock_1257663727.jpg) ##### EquityZen Chooses Stripe Financial Connections EquityZen, a marketplace for buying and selling shares in private companies, announced it is using S... 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Investing in private companies may be considered highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk, including the risk of substantial loss of investment. Investors must be able to afford the loss of their entire investment. See [our Risk Factors](https://equityzen.com/risk-factors/) for a more detailed explanation of the risks involved by investing through EquityZen’s platform.   EquityZen Securities LLC (“EquityZen Securities”) is a subsidiary of EquityZen Inc. EquityZen Securities is a broker/dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is a [FINRA](http://www.finra.org/)/[SIPC](https://www.sipc.org/) member firm.   Equity securities are offered through EquityZen Securities. Check the background of this firm on [FINRA’s BrokerCheck](https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/281820).   EquityZen Inc. was awarded a 2024 Fintech Breakthrough Award by Tech Breakthrough LLC on March 19, 2025, based on the prior year and covering calendar year 2024, and has compensated FinTech Breakthrough LLC for use of its name and logo in connection with the award. FinTech Breakthrough LLC is a third party and has no affiliation with EquityZen.   EquityZen created the ticker symbols referenced on this page for use solely on the EquityZen platform. They do not refer to any publicly traded stock. EquityZen does not have an affiliation with, formal relationship with, or endorsement from any of the companies featured and none of the statements on the site should be attributed to those companies.   “Market Activity” and other transactional data displayed on this website is compiled by EquityZen and is confidential and historical in nature. Unauthorized use, distribution or reproduction is prohibited. Transactional information does not guarantee future investment results. EquityZen cannot guarantee finding or approving a transaction at any displayed price.   EquityZen.com is a website operated by EquityZen Inc. ("EquityZen"). By accessing this site and any pages thereof, you agree to be bound by our [Terms of Use](https://equityzen.com/terms/). EquityZen and logo are trademarks of EquityZen Inc. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners. © 2026 EquityZen. All rights reserved. EquityZen 1 New York Plaza 12th floor New York, NY 10004 [Trustpilot](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/equityzen.com) [![Secured via DigiCert Extended Validation certificate](https://dioguwdgf472v.cloudfront.net/assets/equityzen/img/digicert-site-seal.png)](https://seal.digicert.com/seals/popup/?tag=eoBY_h-N&url=equityzen.com&lang=en_US&cbr=1411486682292) [![FINRA's BrokerCheck](https://dioguwdgf472v.cloudfront.net/assets/equityzen/img/broker-check.png)](https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/281820) [![SIPC](https://dioguwdgf472v.cloudfront.net/assets/equityzen/image/common/sipc.png)![FinTech Breakthrough Award](https://dioguwdgf472v.cloudfront.net/assets/equityzen/img/fintech-award.png)](https://www.sipc.org/) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Atish Davda", "url" : "https://blog.equityzen.com/author/atish-davda" }, "dateModified" : "2025-03-10T18:55:21.572Z", "datePublished" : "2020-05-29T15:13:00.000Z", "headline" : "The State of the Private Markets & Covid", "image" : [ "https://blog.equityzen.com/hubfs/EquityZen_Blog_State%20of%20the%20Private%20Markets.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.equityzen.com/state-of-the-private-markets", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.equityzen.com/hubfs/EZ_logo_h_color-bk_RGB-1.png" }, "name" : "EquityZen, Inc." } } ```