ClearingBid

About the offering

ClearingBid is a fintech platform that democratizes access to IPO investing by allowing all retail and institutional investors to participate in IPOs at the offering price through a transparent, patent-protected price discovery system. The platform is built, tested, and approved by SEC/FINRA through complete transaction cycles, integrating with Wall Street's existing infrastructure via FIX protocol. The company holds 10 granted patents covering proprietary pricing and allocation methods and has established partnerships providing access to 25+ million investors and 700+ brokers through Virtu ITG Net and Apex Fintech Solutions, with clearing and settlement through Wedbush Securities. Founded by Matt Venturi (40-year Wall Street veteran, former Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey, Salomon Smith Barney, and Merrill Lynch), with CTO Roland Tibell (former President of OMX USA, President of OM Exchange Systems, CIO of Stockholm Stock Exchange, senior executive roles at NASDAQ). The company previously raised over $5M on Wefunder in less than 3 weeks from 3,700+ investors. A concurrent private round has raised $2.1M from accredited investors at the same valuation. The current Wefunder campaign has raised $390,360 toward a $618,000 goal from an unspecified number of investors. Featured investor Timothy Pettee ($300K, ClearingBid Board Director, Independent Trustee for Victory Funds) describes it as "the way every single company goes public" in the future.The ProblemThe IPO process is fundamentally exclusionary and hasn't changed in decades despite every other aspect of Wall Street evolving with the internet. When a company goes public, shares are first sold at the IPO price to a hand-selected group of institutional investors chosen by investment banks. Everyone else—retail investors, smaller institutions, most wealth management clients—is locked out and forced to purchase at inflated secondary market prices after trading begins. This creates several systemic problems: companies leave significant money on the table due to limited price discovery and restricted investor reach; pricing is conducted behind closed doors with minimal insight into true market demand; IPO share allocations favor major institutions while millions of investors are excluded; and investment banks bear concentration risk by committing their own capital to buy and resell shares with limited demand visibility. Studies show more than 31,000 private companies representing $3.7T+ in market value remain on the sidelines, many having exceeded the expected lives of their VC/PE fund sponsors. The current system benefits a small group of insiders while costing companies and investors billions annually.The SolutionClearingBid's platform enables any retail or institutional investor to participate in IPOs at the offering price through their existing broker, using the same order entry systems they use for secondary market trading today. The system displays real-time market pricing and demand alongside all offering materials on a single public portal. Proprietary price discovery algorithms identify the clearing price at which all shares can be sold, then enable underwriters to set an offering price at a discount to demonstrated demand. The critical innovation: all "in-the-money" orders (bids at or above the final IPO price) receive guaranteed allocations, with earlier orders receiving higher allocations as a reward for their price discovery contribution—a patented feature. This creates incentives for both retail and institutional investors as well as the brokers servicing them.The platform is plug-and-play, connecting to 700+ brokerages through Virtu ITG Net and 25+ million investors through Apex Fintech Solutions, clearing through Wedbush Securities—all via standard FIX protocol that Wall Street already uses for millions of secondary market trades daily. Lead investment banks retain full control over final pricing but gain complete market demand data for better decisions.The platform supports multiple security types: equity IPOs, follow-on offerings, at-the-market distributions, corporate bonds, structured bonds, municipal bonds, and eventually private market transactions.Business ModelClearingBid charges a platform fee per transaction—typically approximately 50 basis points (0.5%) of gross offering proceeds, varying by offering size and security type. On a single $100M small-cap IPO, this generates $500,000 in revenue. The company anticipates scaling to 50 transactions per year (much larger) including IPOs, corporate bonds, and more. Additional revenue streams include future licensing of the proprietary price discovery platform to underwriters and brokers, multiple product verticals (each security type generates platform fees), and user data insights from expanding offerings that enable AI-enhanced portfolio analysis, financial services, and customer support. The company is a fully compliant FINRA-registered broker-dealer, which unlike institutional-only syndicate software providers enables it to charge transaction fees—a critical regulatory advantage.TractionThe platform is built, tested, and proven through complete transaction flows including order entry, price discovery, pricing, allocation, and settlement. In early 2024, ClearingBid's first transaction was filed with the SEC and underwent Commission review and comments, advancing to near-execution before being paused by the underwriter due to uncertain market conditions—validating the platform's reliability in a real-world regulatory context. Ten patents have been granted covering proprietary pricing and allocation methods. Strategic partnerships established with Virtu ITG Net (700+ brokerages), Apex Fintech Solutions (25+ million investors), and Wedbush Securities (clearing and settlement). Working relationships maintained with industry participants, Capitol Hill, and regulators. A concurrent Reg D private round has raised $2.1M from accredited investors at the same valuation as the crowdfunding round. The previous Wefunder campaign raised $5M+ in less than 3 weeks from 3,700+ investors. The current campaign has raised $390,360 toward $618,000 with 1,068 investor reviews and 113 questions asked—extraordinary community engagement. The featured investor ($300K) is a ClearingBid Board Director and Independent Trustee for Victory Funds. Desktop and mobile apps are built to scale. The company is actively building its pipeline of issuers eager to go public using the platform. No completed IPO transactions have been processed through the platform—the near-execution 2024 deal was paused before completion.Market OpportunityEquity IPO transaction fees alone reached approximately $22B in 2021 and are expected to return to pre-pandemic averages of at least $10B/year as markets normalize. Corporate debt offerings generate transaction fees estimated at $10B+ annually. Together, these initial target markets generate $20B+ per year in transaction fees. The Wall Street Journal expects 2026 to be "the biggest year ever for IPOs" with OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX, and many others potentially going public. Over 31,000 private companies representing $3.7T+ in market value remain on the sidelines. Retail investing has exploded (Robinhood, Fidelity, SoFi all seeking IPO access for their users), creating demand-side pull. The SEC has adopted a more favorable posture toward making it easier for companies to go public. The platform's expansion into corporate bonds, follow-ons, ATM distributions, and eventually private markets multiplies the addressable opportunity.TeamCEO and Founder Matt Venturi is a 40-year Wall Street veteran who previously served as Managing Director of Investment Banking at Houlihan Lokey and Salomon Smith Barney, and in syndicate, sales, and trading at Merrill Lynch. CTO Roland Tibell held senior executive roles at NASDAQ, served as former President of OMX (USA) and President of OM Exchange Systems, and was CIO of the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Head of Business Development Kayle N Watson previously served as Director of ETF Institutional Distribution at BlackRock, Equity Sales & Syndicate Distribution at Guggenheim, and Managing Director of Institutional Equity Sales at Bear Stearns. Board Director and featured investor Timothy Pettee is an Independent Trustee for Victory Funds with extensive background in asset management and investment strategy. The team's collective experience spans the exact institutions and processes ClearingBid aims to transform—they are Wall Street insiders building the tool to open Wall Street's most exclusive process.

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