Clay, an A.I. Sales Start-Up, Lets Employees Cash Out. Again.
•January 28, 2026
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Companies Mentioned
Why It Matters
Early equity cash‑outs improve employee morale and reduce turnover, while signaling confidence to investors and accelerating path to public markets.
Key Takeaways
- •Clay's second tender values company at $5 billion.
- •First tender in 2025 valued Clay at $1.5 billion.
- •DST Global leads the latest employee share buyback.
- •Early liquidity boosts morale and retention for startup staff.
- •Trend mirrors Facebook 2009 model, now more common.
Pulse Analysis
The concept of employee tender offers dates back to Facebook’s 2009 secondary sale, a rarity that gave workers a chance to monetize equity before an IPO. Over the past decade, the practice has shifted from an exception to a strategic tool, allowing startups to address cash‑flow needs of their workforce while maintaining long‑term ownership incentives. By offering a structured, company‑backed market for shares, firms can sidestep the uncertainty of private secondary markets and provide transparent pricing that aligns with recent valuations.
Clay’s latest tender underscores how rapidly the model is being adopted. Valued at $5 billion, the offer represents a more than three‑fold increase from its first tender, reflecting both aggressive growth and strong investor confidence. Lead investor DST Global, which orchestrated Facebook’s original secondary sale, brings credibility and signals that the market views Clay’s AI‑powered sales platform as a high‑potential asset. For employees, the liquidity event can fund major life milestones—home purchases, education, or family expenses—without waiting for a public listing, thereby strengthening loyalty and reducing attrition.
Industry‑wide, the frequency of secondary offers suggests a broader shift in venture capital strategy. Investors are increasingly comfortable providing liquidity to non‑founding employees, recognizing that early cash‑outs can improve morale and align incentives without diluting founder control. This trend may compress the timeline to IPOs, as startups no longer need to rely solely on a public exit to reward staff. As more firms emulate Facebook’s 2009 playbook, secondary markets could become a standard component of startup capital structures, reshaping talent acquisition and retention dynamics across the tech sector.
Clay, an A.I. Sales Start-Up, Lets Employees Cash Out. Again.
Clay Is Letting Its Employees Cash Out. Again.
Jan. 28, 2026
The founders of Clay, a digital marketing start‑up, say that letting start‑up employees sell shares more regularly helps build up good will. Credit…Ava Pellor, via Clay
When a still‑privately held Facebook offered employees the chance to sell some of their shares in 2009, the deal was considered a rarity in Silicon Valley: an opportunity for workers at a fast‑growing start‑up to cash in before their company went public.
Today, the move seems increasingly normal, and some companies are doing it more than once.
The latest example is Clay, an artificial‑intelligence sales and marketing start‑up that plans to announce on Wednesday that it will offer its employees a second chance to sell shares in just under nine months. The tender offer, as it is known, will value the company at $5 billion, up from the $1.5 billion level of its first one. (A primary fund‑raising round in August valued the business at $3.1 billion.)
For Clay and other hot start‑ups, employee tender offers are coming earlier in their life cycles, and more frequently. That allows employees to sell some of the equity that they receive as compensation without having to potentially wait years until an initial public offering.
“We think it builds good will,” said Kareem Amin, a founder and the chief executive of Clay, adding that the move could help employees buy a house or pay for family expenses. “People should get rewarded for their work now.”
Leading Clay’s tender offer is DST Global, the investment firm that orchestrated the 2009 Facebook stock sale. Others in the round include the venture‑capital firms Conviction and Avra, as well as angel investors and technology executives like Claire Hughes Johnson, a former chief operating officer at the payment processor Stripe.
Since Facebook’s tender offer, major technology companies have occasionally let employees sell shares. SpaceX, for instance, bought insider shares at a roughly $800 billion valuation before an IPO expected as soon as this year.
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