̶ New Prime 30 Unicorn Index Tracks the 30 Highest Valued Companies in the Prime Unicorn Composite Index, the Standard Bearer for Private Market Benchmarking ̶
̶ The Prime Unicorn Indexes Uniquely Incorporate Primary Sourced Financing Data with Secondary Transactions via a Partnership with Caplight Technologies ̶
SHREVEPORT, La., April 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Prime Unicorn Index, the standard bearer for private market benchmarking, today announced the launch of the new Prime Unicorn 30 Index, a modified market cap index that tracks the valuations of the top 30 US-based private venture-backed companies valued at $1 billion or more, known as “unicorns.” Through a partnership with Caplight Technologies, both the Prime Unicorn Composite Index and the new Prime Unicorn 30 Index uniquely incorporate secondary transaction data, in addition to financing data obtained from hard-to source primary documents that verify issued shares and the most recent series price per share. At the end of the first quarter of 2024, the components of the Prime 30 Unicorn Index were valued at more than $376 billion.
The Prime Unicorn Composite Index and the Prime Unicorn 30 Index are designed to aid in the creation of new financial products and as a performance benchmark. The price changes of component companies are derived from a wide variety of publicly available information sources associated with company transactions, filings, secondary market transactions, and other disclosures. Both Indexes provide empirical data to asset managers and financial advisors that make it possible to track the performance of private capital markets. They are priced daily and reconstituted quarterly.
“We believe this newest addition to our portfolio of indexes designed to facilitate the development of liquidity solutions for the leading private companies will be of substantial value to the growing number of institutions and investors eager to invest in high potential private firms,” said Ross Barrett, a co-founder of the Prime Unicorn Index. “These companies are key drivers of growth in our economy. By creating indexes that accurately capture the changing values in this sector, we aim to facilitate the ability of financial institutions to design and offer products that enable institutional and other investors to participate in the value creation opportunities embodied in these innovative enterprises.”
Javier Avalos, CEO of Caplight Technologies, commented, ”We are committed to bringing transparency to the pre-IPO asset class. Novel tools such as the Prime 30 Unicorn Index play a vital role in making it easier to access this vibrant sector of our economy. We are delighted to partner with the Prime Unicorn Index team to create reliable indexes of unicorn companies and believe such products will further institutionalize this market.”
The Prime Unicorn Composite Index has been licensed to multiple financial institutions that are creating financial products for their qualified institutional clients. Examples include structured notes, total return swaps and futures contracts.
Mr. Barrett continued, “With the inclusion of secondary trading data from Caplight Technologies in our Prime Unicorn Index family, the private market financial sector for the first time has current, accurate benchmarks for the value of private companies. We see these two Indexes as a foundation for financial product innovation that will improve transparency and liquidity for the traditionally opaque and inefficient private markets.”
The Prime Unicorn Index calculation model is based on actual and calculated prices of preferred stock and common stock, which are validated by the Index operations team. Corporate actions, such as bankruptcies, stock splits, reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, and spinoffs are monitored on a daily basis. Secondary transactions are sourced from Caplight Technologies, which offers market data, price discovery tools, and derivatives that enable shareholders, institutional investors, and brokers to make trades for private companies. Index values are calculated daily and distributed on a weekly basis. The indexes are reconstituted on a quarterly basis. The Prime Unicorn Indexes were designed and developed by Lagniappe Labs and Level ETF Ventures’ Prime Indexes group.
For more information on the Prime Unicorn Composite Index and Prime Unicorn Top 30 Index, please visit https://primeunicornindex.com or email michael@primeunicornindex.com.
About the Prime Unicorn Indexes
The Prime Unicorn Indexes are the definitive benchmarks for US-based venture capital backed company valuations. The Prime Unicorn Composite Index is the most widely used and trusted private market index commercially available. The Prime Unicorn 30 Index is the newest benchmark in the Prime Unicorn Index family. It focuses on the 30 highest valued US-based venture capital backed companies. Both Indexes incorporate primary pricing as well as secondary market transaction activity for venture-backed, late-stage private companies, and are available on Bloomberg, Refinitiv, IHS Markit, and Yahoo Finance. For more information, visit https://primeunicornindex.com.
Contacts:
Corporate
Michael Ostendorff
Chief Business Officer
Prime Unicorn Index
michael@primeunicornindex.com
Media
Barbara Lindheim
BLL Partners for Prime Unicorn Index
blindheim@bllbiopartners.com
917.355.9234