PreStocks raised a $2.1M seed round led by Republic Capital, bringing total funding to $3.2M over two rounds.

PreStocks is a platform that creates tokenized representations of pre-IPO company equity, allowing retail investors to trade exposure to private companies like OpenAI, Canva, and other unicorns through blockchain-based tokens. The tokens are backed by Special Purpose Vehicles that hold actual shares in these private companies, creating a digital wrapper that makes private market investing accessible to regular investors.

Users can buy fractional exposure to private companies with no minimum investment, trading these PreStock tokens 24/7 on Solana-based infrastructure. The platform handles all the traditional complexities of private market investing - deal sourcing, paperwork, SPV management, and corporate actions - while presenting users with a simple trading interface similar to public stock platforms.

The tokens can be stored in any Solana wallet, transferred between platforms, and potentially used as collateral for loans or other DeFi applications. When a company goes public or gets acquired, the underlying SPV exposure gets distributed to token holders proportionally. The platform abstracts away cap table updates, dividend distributions, and other corporate actions from end users while maintaining the economic exposure to the private company's valuation changes.

PreStocks operates a B2C tokenization platform that transforms illiquid private equity exposure into tradeable digital assets. The company creates SPVs that acquire shares in pre-IPO companies, then issues blockchain tokens representing proportional interests in those SPVs.

The monetization centers on trading fees captured through bid-ask spreads as users buy and sell PreStock tokens. Unlike traditional private market platforms that charge performance fees, management fees, or annual expenses, PreStocks maintains a simplified fee structure focused purely on transaction-based revenue.

The platform leverages Solana's low-cost infrastructure to enable fractional trading with minimal transaction fees, making small-dollar trades economically viable. This asset-light model allows PreStocks to scale without the capital requirements of owning physical infrastructure or maintaining large sales teams typical of institutional secondary markets.

The business benefits from network effects where higher trading volume attracts more liquidity providers, creating tighter spreads and better price discovery. This virtuous cycle becomes particularly powerful for private market assets where traditional pricing data is fragmented and retrospective.

Forge Global dominates the institutional private market space with over 636,000 registered users and 18,000 institutions, processing median trade sizes above $5M. Their 2025 launch of Forge Pro creates an institutional-grade order management system with deeper data integration and self-service capabilities. Forge's vertical integration across data, custody, and execution, combined with their regulated ATS status, creates significant barriers for newer entrants.

Nasdaq Private Market leverages backing from major investment banks like Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley to power structured tender offers for late-stage companies. Their fee model ties to issuers rather than individual traders, competing on compliance infrastructure and cap table integration. CartaX uses Carta's 40,000-company cap table database to source deal flow, bundling primary financings with secondary auction capabilities.

EquityZen targets accredited investors with lower minimums ranging from $10,000 for fund exposure to $200,000 for direct positions. Their curated deal approach and established broker-dealer status provides regulatory clarity but limits scalability compared to automated platforms.

Hiive operates a pure self-serve bulletin board with zero seller fees, earning 1.5% on the buy side while using algorithmic pricing to close deals within 48 hours. Their approach directly competes with PreStocks' emphasis on speed and automation, though they operate within traditional regulatory frameworks rather than tokenized structures.

The broader tokenized asset ecosystem includes platforms like Backed, Ondo, and Superstate focusing on safer asset classes like Treasury bills and public equities. These platforms have established regulatory pathways and user bases that could expand into private markets as the technology matures.

PreStocks differentiates by building natively on Solana for private equity exposure, positioning ahead of the typical progression from stablecoins to T-bills to public stocks to private equity. However, this early positioning also means navigating less established regulatory frameworks compared to competitors in safer asset classes.

PreStocks can expand beyond individual company tokens into tokenized exposure to private equity funds, venture capital portfolios, and sector-specific baskets. Creating index-like products that track AI companies, biotech startups, or geographic clusters would appeal to investors seeking diversified private market exposure without picking individual names.

The platform could also introduce derivative products like price-protected forward contracts or covered call options on private equity positions. These structured products would attract hedge fund and institutional demand seeking synthetic exposure without dealing with transfer restrictions and lengthy settlement periods.

European markets present significant opportunities under the new Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which explicitly recognizes tokenized securities marketplaces. A Dublin-based entity could serve EEA investors without requiring separate national licenses, tapping into European family offices and retail investors seeking US tech exposure.

Asia-Pacific family offices control over $4 trillion in assets and actively seek US unicorn exposure but struggle with settlement logistics and tax complications. Establishing regulated entities in Singapore or Hong Kong with local custodial partnerships could unlock this fast-growing buyer segment that existing platforms have yet to localize effectively.

Acquiring or partnering with cap table management providers would give PreStocks first-look rights on shareholder liquidity events, capturing inventory before competitors. Integration with employee equity management platforms could create direct pipelines from company employees seeking liquidity.

The platform could expand into post-trade financing by offering margin loans against private share portfolios at 50-60% loan-to-value ratios. This would increase customer stickiness while generating additional revenue streams beyond trading fees, similar to how public market brokers monetize customer assets.

Regulatory fragmentation: Different jurisdictions are developing incompatible frameworks for tokenized securities, with Republic operating under Reg CF rules limiting investments to $5,000 with year-long lockups, while European platforms under MiFID-II face different restrictions. This fragmentation could limit PreStocks' ability to create unified global liquidity pools and may require maintaining separate compliance infrastructure across markets.

Issuer pushback: Private companies like OpenAI have actively opposed tokenized trading of their shares, viewing secondary market activity as potentially harmful to employee morale and company control. Unlike traditional secondary markets where companies grudgingly accept the activity, tokenized platforms face more direct opposition that could result in legal challenges or restrictions on the underlying SPV structures.

Technology obsolescence: The emergence of more sophisticated synthetic data and automated market-making could commoditize the basic tokenization infrastructure that PreStocks provides. If larger platforms like Coinbase or traditional exchanges develop similar capabilities with better liquidity and regulatory clarity, PreStocks' early-mover advantage in tokenized private equity could quickly erode.