AxialMarket - Making Private M&A Markets More Liquid

One of the great things the Internet can do is reduce friction in various marketplaces by bringing them online. Early examples in the history of the internet include transformative online marketplaces like eBay and Craig's List; others more recently include eHarmony (personality-based online dating) or Groupon (aggregating supply and demand for merchants and consumers).  The internet, however, has not penetrated B2B markets as easily or as swiftly, usually because the transactions that occur in B2B markets are often larger, more complex and sometimes confidential. First Round is proud to announce its funding of AxialMarket, the premier online M&A marketplace connecting qualified buyers and sellers of privately held companies. Business owners and their M&A Advisors use AxialMarket to research, identify and engage qualified potential buyers; M&A-focused public and and private companies, as well as lenders and private investment firms, join AxialMarket to increase company-wide deal flow and lower deal origination costs.  Launched in 2008, the company has helped over 2200 privately held companies, with revenues ranging from $5M to $275M, complete an M&A or financing transaction.   Peter Lehrman, the CEO, is a serial entrepreneur who understands that the value is created not by dis-intermediating the existing market, but attacking the points of friction and cost of discovery for qualified participants, leading to more success for both buyers and sellers. In the U.S. alone, where millions of established private companies exist, this friction and complexity creates tremendous noise for buyers, who receive deals that aren't relevant, and sellers, who find themselves spinning their wheels trying to identify the right buyer. AxialMarket solves these problems by overlaying its relationships with large datasets and algorithms to create success for both buyers and sellers. Of course, doing this is not so simple, both technically and from a market sense, but Peter's team has the ability, experience and expertise to do it, and First Round is excited to be part of their team.