Sources: Benchmark, GV sold ~14.5% of their Uber stakes, worth ~$900M, ~$350M respectively; Garrett Camp sold ~15% for ~$400M; Menlo sold ~46%, First Round ~38%
Google Ventures, or GV, also sold several hundred million dollars of stock in the transaction.
Context & Ripple Effects
The SoftBank tender offer gave Uber shareholders 20 days to cash out at a $48B valuation or hold for a possible 2019 IPO, and this report shows who took the deal: Benchmark sold about 14.5% of its stake for roughly $900M, GV about 14.5% for ~$350M, founder Garrett Camp ~15% for ~$400M, while Menlo and First Round sold far larger fractions — 46% and 38% respectively.
The sellers aren't random. Benchmark had initiated the effort to sell stock before the CEO's ouster, making this the payoff of a process the firm itself started during Uber's governance crisis. For GV, partial exit closes a chapter on its 2013 $258M investment, which had devolved into a tense Alphabet–Uber relationship.
First-order effects
- SoftBank converts its tender into concentrated ownership of Uber at a $48B mark, while Benchmark (~$900M), Garrett Camp (~$400M) and GV (~$350M) bank real liquidity years ahead of any IPO.
- Menlo and First Round's outsized sale percentages — 46% and 38% — signal smaller funds treating this as their primary exit window rather than a trim.
Second-order effects
- Shareholders who held out are now anchored to a $48B reference price set by the most informed sellers, raising the bar for what a 2019 IPO must clear to justify the wait.
- SoftBank's new position gives it leverage over Uber's board dynamics going into the IPO, pressuring remaining early investors to align with or resist its agenda.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, structured secondaries to deep-pocketed buyers like SoftBank become a standard pre-IPO exit for late-stage VCs, decoupling fund returns from the IPO calendar.
- A $48B clearing price for Uber's most battle-tested investors becomes the de facto valuation benchmark other late-stage startups are measured against in future tenders.
The trend: Late-stage venture returns are increasingly realized through negotiated secondary sales to mega-buyers like SoftBank rather than by waiting for IPO windows.