Private Company Secondaries Outperform Public Peers in September‍

Stocks of private companies far outpaced public equity peers last month, according to ApeVue, the first independent, daily pricing data service for unicorn stocks.  Amid a weak year in public markets, the 50 most active private companies in the institutional market, including well known brands like Stripe, Impossible Foods and Klarna, lost 30.61% for investors up until October 1st.

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Market overview: Private vs public equity markets

Following an incredible 2021, where the value of the benchmarked private companies priced by ApeVue peaked at a 134.18% return, 2022 has been more of a wet blanket.  Since December 31st, 2020, the ApeVue50 remains positive 62.30% (after 21-months of tracking). 

Year to date through September 30th in comparison, the S&P 500 Index lost 13.29%, and the Nasdaq was down 32.40%.  

“We are seeing increased interest in market-based private equity pricing data from more traditional asset managers, particularly since prior round valuations are becoming less reliable with the market tumult,” said Roman Kalyuzhny, Chief Product Officer of ApeVue. “Utilizing a more timely dataset for price transparency should help institutional investors participate in the private markets.”

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Among the top companies tracked by ApeVue year-to-date (September 30th), SpaceX maintains one of the best returns (+32.76%) while notable laggards were Stripe (-59.93%) and Klarna (-83.34%).

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Sector highlights:  Data v. Entertainment

ApeVue pricing from prominent sectors like data-driven technology companies and entertainment companies most recently started a decoupling of correlation since Independence Day.

The Data focused company components of the ApeVue basket have lost 27.38%, while the Entertainment (e.g., social media, gaming, messaging) companies in the sub-sector of the ApeVue50 have losses of 44.42% this year.  

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As many are noting the lack of correlation in the expected lag between public and private markets, 2022's fourth quarter will be hotly followed to see if private companies can maintain their outperformance versus major public benchmarks as in prior years.

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About ApeVue

ApeVue provides objective, daily pricing for non-public company stocks. Our independent data help institutional investors understand market conditions, measure risk and assign valuations with confidence.  Price data from ApeVue are constructed from aggregated, anonymized market activity information sourced from licensed brokers at the nexus of institutional trading.  Unlike traditional company valuation assessments done quarterly, ApeVue data show equity price fluctuations between funding rounds and regular financial reporting periods.  With the largest, most timely, independent data set covering non-listed companies, ApeVue is the best source for up-to-date insights about the dynamic pre-IPO company market.

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