WHY THE VENTURE CAPITAL SECONDARY MARKET IS BOOMING IN 2025

Summary from the TLDR Founders newsletter

While everyone waits for the IPO window to reopen, secondaries quietly hit $152 billion in 2024, up 39% year over year. What started as a liquidity hack is now essential infrastructure. LPs tired of waiting can sell their fund stakes. Founders can give employees partial cash-outs without forcing an IPO. GPs spin their best companies into continuation vehicles to hold them longer while still returning cash. The numbers are wild. VC secondaries jumped from 16% of deal activity in 2020 to 29% in 2024. Secondaries aren't a workaround anymore. They're how venture capital actually works when traditional exits take over a decade.