Varun Anand@vxanand
Today @Clay is announcing our second employee tender in just 9 months at a $5B valuation.
Employee tender offers are rare at private tech companies, and repeat tenders at this frequency are rarer still. Under the traditional model, employees take on years of risk with no path to liquidity until an IPO or acquisition.
We’re not building Clay that way. We believe that companies hitting their milestones should offer equity as part of people’s journey, not just at the end. And we want all our employees to benefit meaningfully from the value they create.
There are two reasons companies don't do tenders: 1) you don't have the demand for your stock; 2) you think your team will get demotivated if they sell their shares.
Re: the first -- I can't help you much there (but maybe DM me and I can do a video consulting on your biz problems). On the second -- in our experience, the opposite happens! When people feel trusted, supported, and happy, they stay longer and build with more conviction - just check out our Glassdoor reviews (p.s. we’re hiring!). Our teams are more loyal, energized, and motivated to make a big outcome happen because they know we care about doing right by them.
The tender will allow employees to sell up to $55M of Clay shares at a $5B valuation, and is led by DST Global, with participation from @conviction, @AvraCap, @OpCo_VC and @Frontlinevc, alongside a stellar roster of angels and customers, including Stripe's @chughesjohnson, Figma CMO @SheilaVashee, Superhuman CEO @shishirmehrotra, and product leader @lennysan.
Thank you to our team, community, and customers for making this milestone possible. We're hyped for the journey ahead!
→ Check out The New York Times feature by @m_delamerced: nytimes.com/2026/01/28/bus…
