Hiive

What Hiive does

Hiive is a regulated online marketplace for buying and selling unregistered securities of venture-backed, pre-IPO companies. The company operates the Hiive Platform through its US broker-dealer subsidiary Hiive Markets Limited (SEC-registered, FINRA/SIPC member) and as an exempt market dealer in six Canadian provinces. Its core product is a centralized order-book venue with live bids, listings, and standing bids across 3,000+ pre-IPO companies, supported by proprietary pricing and index products — Hiive Price (a daily time-decayed, volume-weighted model-derived indicative price) and the Hiive50 Index (an equal-weight quarterly-reconstituted index of the 50 most liquid securities on the platform). The platform serves four primary customer segments: late-stage issuers (e.g., Kraken, Upgrade) running structured liquidity programs; institutional investors and funds (1,000+ registered customers including Industry Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Founders Circle Capital); accredited investors accessing curated single-stock exposure through Hiive Funds; and employee/investor sellers seeking pre-IPO liquidity.

Name

Hiive

Legal name

The Hiive Company Limited

Website

https://hiive.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Hiive is a FINRA/SIPC-regulated online marketplace for buying and selling pre-IPO shares of venture-backed private companies, serving institutional investors, accredited individuals, issuers, and employee shareholders across North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Securities Marketplace

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Client/High-Net-Worth Advisory (FSAEAAAN)

Keywords

• Private stock marketplace
• Pre-IPO secondary trading
• Venture secondaries platform
• Private securities exchange
• Alternative investments marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Brokerage transaction fees (sellers): Fixed and transparent brokerage fees charged to sellers on each completed secondary transaction on the Hiive platform; pricing is disclosed to the seller before they set their price.
2. Institutional trading & investor fees: Transaction-related fees and service charges generated from over 1,000 registered institutional customers (VC funds, family offices, asset managers) buying and selling private securities on the marketplace.
3. Hiive Funds administration & transaction fees: Closed-end structured vehicles (e.g., The Standard Fund™, Perplexity AI Fund, SpaceX Fund) that charge transaction and administrative fees only — no management fees and no carried interest — generating revenue at fund close and on underlying transfers.
4. Issuer program & capital services: Revenue from issuer clients for end-to-end liquidity programs including secondary trading, tender offers, share buybacks, exec block trades, primary capital introductions and investor aggregation; structured as fee-for-service and transaction-based engagements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Hiive operates a centralized online marketplace that connects accredited investors, institutional funds, and shareholders of pre-IPO, venture-backed companies for buying and selling unregistered private securities. The platform offers live order books, anonymous matching, standardized agreements, automated execution, proprietary pricing (Hiive Price), and the Hiive50 index. Securities are offered by its wholly-owned US broker-dealer subsidiary Hiive Markets Limited (SEC-registered, FINRA/SIPC member), with additional managed investment vehicles (Hiive Funds) and enterprise liquidity programs for issuers.

Product overview

Hiive operates a single unified marketplace platform (the Hiive Platform, operated by SEC-registered broker-dealer Hiive Markets Limited) for trading unregistered securities of pre-IPO, venture-backed companies, complemented by several distinct modules and content products. The core Hiive Marketplace (hiive.com and app.hiive.com) is the live order-book venue for accredited and institutional investors, with issuer-facing controls exposed via Hiive for Issuers and a browseable Hiive Securities Directory of more than 3,000 companies. Layered on top, Hiive Funds provides managed exposure to specific private companies (e.g., SpaceX, Perplexity AI, Apptronik, Glean, Replit, Shield AI), while the Hiive50 Index and Hiive Price deliver proprietary pricing and index data generated directly from on-platform orders and transactions. Hiive further publishes market-research products — the annual State of the Pre-IPO Market report, the recurring Liquidity Thesis series, and Market Insights articles — which complement the trading platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hiive50 Index: An equal-weight proprietary price index of the 50 most liquid pre-IPO securities on the Hiive platform, calculated and disseminated by The Hiive Company Limited using data from its affiliate Hiive Markets Limited.

Products and services

• Hiive Marketplace Centralized online marketplace that connects accredited and institutional buyers and sellers for trading unregistered securities of private, venture-backed, pre-IPO companies, with live order books, real-time indications of interest, anonymized counterparties, and standardized fee/transaction automation. Operated by Hiive Markets Limited (SEC-registered broker-dealer, FINRA/SIPC member).
• Hiive Funds Managed closed-end investment vehicles that provide accredited investors simplified exposure to specific private, venture-backed companies (e.g., Lightmatter, Apptronik, Glean, Replit, Shield AI, Perplexity, SpaceX); charged transaction and administrative fees only (no management fees or carried interest), advised by an investment advisor, audited annually, and operated on SOC-2 compliant systems.
• Hiive for Issuers Issuer-facing enterprise offering that lets private, venture-backed companies pre-approve buyers and sellers, set trading ranges and windows, and manage secondary trading, share buybacks, exec block trades, tender offers, primary capital, and investor aggregation; consolidates cap-table activity via batched transfers and Hiive Funds.

Quantifiable outcome

• $250M+ of monthly transaction volume (6-month rolling average)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered flagship issuer relationship, core institutional user, data attribution partner, flagship fund issuer, core fund issuer, regulatory backbone and adversarial / litigation counterpart.

• Krakenflagship issuer relationshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerKraken (cryptocurrency exchange) partners with Hiive to deliver a secondary trading and employee liquidity program for Krakenites. Quote on the Hiive issuer page credits Hiive with bringing 'efficiency and control' while giving Krakenites 'financial flexibility'. Kraken is also one of the most-traded securities on the Hiive platform (Hiive Price $31.20, ranked #1 in the Hiive50, 71 live orders).
• Upgradeflagship issuer relationshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerUpgrade (fintech / consumer lending) works with Hiive to run a deep-pool secondary liquidity program for its shareholders and employees. CEO Renaud Laplanche publicly endorses Hiive's ability to ensure there is 'always a bid for our stock when liquidity needs arise amongst our investors or employees'.
• Industry Venturescore institutional userStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry Ventures (Managing Director Ira Simkhovitch) is publicly cited as an institutional customer endorsing Hiive as a 'purpose built' private stock marketplace and transaction execution platform for sophisticated venture investors.
• Sapphire Venturescore institutional userStrategic or Co-development PartnerSapphire Ventures (Partner Steve Abbott) uses Hiive to 'efficiently add to positions in scaled high-growth companies across our portfolio', citing Hiive's solid flow and intuitive interface for sourcing and managing secondary sellers.
• Founders Circle Capitalcore institutional userStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounders Circle Capital (Partner Ryan Morrison) endorses Hiive as 'the first platform to point technology at the many structural challenges in the secondary market', partnering with Hiive to provide employees of portfolio companies safe access to liquidity.
• CB Insightsdata attribution partnerTechnology or IntegrationCB Insights is cited on the Hiive homepage as the source for Hiive's '60%+ of US decacorns with at least one trade' stat via CB Insights' list of US unicorn companies.
• Republicdata attribution partnerTechnology or IntegrationRepublic's tier-1 VC and notable investor list is cited on the Hiive homepage as the source for the '95%+ of tier-1 VCs work with Hiive' statistic.
• Perplexity AI (Hiive Funds)flagship fund issuerStrategic or Co-development PartnerPerplexity AI is one of the underlying issuers in Hiive's closed-end Perplexity AI Fund (closed Sept 3, 2025), a structured vehicle giving accredited investors exposure to Perplexity stock; Perplexity is also a top-10 most-traded name on Hiive (Hiive Price $65.99).
• SpaceX (Hiive Funds)flagship fund issuerStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpaceX is the underlying issuer of Hiive's SpaceX Fund (closed Oct 17, 2025), one of Hiive's top three funds by largest closed transaction volume. Co-Founder & Head of Institutional Markets Prab Rattan previously advised on SpaceX transactions prior to Hiive.
• Lightmatter (Hiive Funds)core fund issuerStrategic or Co-development PartnerLightmatter (photonic computing) is an underlying issuer in Hiive Funds and one of the most-traded names on the platform (Hiive Price $107.07, ranked #12 in the Hiive50).
• FINRA / SIPC (Hiive Markets Limited memberships)regulatory backboneOthersHiive Markets Limited is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC; securities offered by Hiive Markets Limited carry this regulatory standing. The relationship underpins Hiive's ability to operate as a regulated marketplace in the US.
• Nasdaq Private Market (NPM)adversarial / litigation counterpartOthersNot a commercial partner but a listed counterparty: NPM (Nasdaq spinoff) has filed two lawsuits against Hiive — a patent infringement suit in the US District Court for Delaware (May 6, 2026) and a trade-secret / IP suit in Manhattan federal court (June 16, 2026) alleging Hiive poached two NPM employees to gain confidential information. Hiive calls the patent suit meritless; outcome could set precedent for venture secondary market infrastructure.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Nasdaq Private Market: Operates one of the largest private-company secondary marketplaces for issuers, investors and shareholders; directly competes with Hiive across the same product surface (secondary trading, tender offers, block trades) and is Hiive's primary litigation counterparty.
• Forge Global: Public-market-listed (NYSE: FRGE) marketplace for pre-IPO shares with a comparable buyer/institution base, pricing data products, and issuer services; one of the most direct competitive analogues to Hiive's marketplace and Hiive50.
• EquityZen: Long-standing private-company secondary marketplace serving accredited investors, institutional buyers, and issuers; competes head-to-head on pre-IPO share access, pricing transparency, and issuer-led tender programs.
• SharesPost: Private-company secondary trading platform offering accredited investors access to pre-IPO shares, with comparable investor coverage and trading flow to Hiive.
• Equity Management Inc. (EMI) / Rainmaker Securities: Long-established private-company secondary broker-dealer and the prior employer of Hiive's founders; serves similar institutional and seller customers via relationship-driven brokerage rather than a fully automated marketplace.

Emerging players

• UpMarket: Alternative investment platform offering pre-IPO exposure to individual accredited investors alongside private equity and other alts; overlaps with Hiive's Hiive Funds channel.
• Linqto: Technology-enabled private-company secondary platform focused on individual accredited investors and employees; competes for similar seller and buyer segments as Hiive's marketplace and Hiive Funds.
• IPO Genie: Pre-IPO investment platform repeatedly listed alongside Hiive in industry rankings; overlaps with Hiive Funds in offering individual accredited investors access to private companies, though at earlier-stage and smaller scale.

Broad incumbents

• Carta: Dominant cap-table and equity management platform that has expanded into secondary liquidity programs and tender-offer facilitation; overlaps with Hiive's issuer-side services and is embedded in many issuers' back-office workflows.
• Nasdaq (parent context): Parent of Nasdaq Private Market and the broader listing/IP owner; sets precedent for the secondary-market IP claims at issue in the NPM litigation and represents a deep-pocketed competitor in regulated private-market infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/claritymovescap
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hiivemarkets
• Instagraminstagram.com/hiiveislive

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hiive