Hiive Buy-Side Analysis

Mapping investor behavior, liquidity patterns, and demand concentration across buyer segments.

Buyer Tiers

I built this tier split to go granual into the buy side. The goal is to distill what is our platform's current and future demand comprised of. This tracker groups buyers by role, clarifies what they buy, and highlights product fit so prioritization follows market structure.

Tier Selector

Details

Price Makers

Core Liquidity Takers – Crossovers, Hedge Funds, Generalist Late-Stage VCs

Buys

Live trades, blocks, names with visible catalysts

Examples

Tiger Global
Coatue
Altimeter
D1 Capital
Alkeon

Decision Inputs

Criteria: AUM > $1B, active in late-stage growth and public markets
Behavior: Post standing bids, fast execution (24–72h), price-sensitive
Check Size: $5–50M

Hiive Product Alignment

Current Product: Live Order Book and anonymous buyer/seller matching on-platform (market-making mechanics).
Future Scope: Tailored desk services for block discovery and execution as dedicated modules.

GTM Sequencing Logic

Next, my goal was to distill the trajectory of Hiive's market and possible paths for how it could grow: going deeper into the product strategy and its relationship to the customer base and what are potential ways we can take this from here on out.

Where Hiive is today (with receipts)

Phase 1

Tier 1 + Tier 2

Build the bid/ask infrastructure. Price makers post capital and professional secondaries buyers provide depth, creating reliable pricing data.

Status

Dominating

Live order book$110M+/mo volume$3B+ live orders

Phase 2

Tier 3 + Tier 5

Layer in domain specialists and sophisticated family offices. They validate pricing and bring issuer relationships.

Status

Growing

>50% decacorns trade>80% tier‑1 VCsSpecialists active

Phase 3

Tier 4 (Fund Products)

Institutionalize once price discovery is reliable. Asset managers become anchor LPs in fund vehicles.

Status

Early Stage but fast growing

Hiive50 index liveFunds concept signaled

Phase 4

Tier 6 + Tier 7

Scale distribution. Advised wealth requires mature rails from earlier phases. Credit buyers need dense, continuous data.

Status

Roadmap?

Accredited accessAdvisor portal TBDNo public data API

The sequencing matters. If you go to Rockefeller Capital (Tier 6) before you have real pricing from Tiger and Coatue (Tier 1), you're selling a narrative, not a market. If you pitch BlackRock (Tier 4) before you have $100M+/month in transaction volume, they can't justify the allocation committee time.

Hiive50 Demand × Issuer Matrix

Legend:

H = High

M = Medium

L = Low

I built this matrix to map how secondary liquidity actually forms across investory (buyer) tiers in the private markets. For simplicity's sake, this view focuses only on Robotics, AI, Fintech, Climatetech sectors. Each row represents a highly traded private issuer on Hiive 50, and each column measures expected buy-side intensity across seven categories: from price-setting crossovers (Tier 1) to data-driven credit funds (Tier 7).

Some interesting patterns to note:

Frontier AI, compute, and fintech names cluster with heavy Tier 1–3 engagement, where live blocks and programmatic secondaries dominate.
Later tiers (T5–T7): family offices, advised wealth, and credit funds begin to activate only once price history and governance data mature. Additionally, Advised Wealth seeks access to funds as opposed to individual stocks.

Beyond visualization, the matrix serves as a GTM sequencing tool: it identifies which buyer cohorts to prioritize for outreach and where Hiive can deepen depth by aligning tender programs with proven demand lanes.
Powered today by public filings and Pitchbook data only, the matrix could evolve into an internal ‘Hiive Depth Index’: automatically generated from live bid–ask data, trade confirmations, and inquiry patterns, transforming raw secondary transactions into a dynamic market-conviction map that continuously informs strategy.

Issuer	Sector	Tier 1 Price Makers Core Liquidity Takers Crossovers, Hedge Funds, Generalist Late-Stage VCs	Tier 2 Professional Secondaries Buyers Growth PE & Secondaries Dedicated secondaries; growth PE arms	Tier 3 Sector Specialists Deep Thematic Funds Issuer-specific within domain expertise	Tier 4 Institutional Allocators Asset Mgrs, Pensions, Endowments Funds, SMAs, baskets (not single names)	Tier 5 Sophisticated Family Offices Institutionalized SFO/MFO Co-invests, direct positions, strategic	Tier 6 Advised Wealth RIAs, Smaller FOs, UHNW via Advisors Curated picks, model portfolios	Tier 7 Credit & Data Buyers BDCs, Venture Debt, Structured Lenders Credit exposure, FMV data licensing
AI / Compute
xAI Large fresh capital and rapid valuation resets create visible catalysts for T1; breadth of holders plus hype supports T2/T4 interest; platform is still concentration‑risk heavy for retail/RIA rails (T6).	AI	H	H	M	M	M	L	L
Cerebras Systems Wafer‑scale compute leader with late‑stage financing and IPO chatter; strong specialist demand (T3) and T1 activity around event paths; T7 moderate via hardware‑finance structures.	AI/Compute	H	M	H	M	M	L	L
Anthropic Enterprise revenue scale, mega‑round at ~$183B, and multi‑year TPU capacity with Google → deep T1/T2 flow and allocator appetite (T4).	AI	H	H	H	H–M	M	L	L
Scale AI $100M DoD agreement and defense pipeline = high T1/T2 plus T3 (defense/thematic); allocator interest rising as contracts institutionalize.	AI (Data/Defense)	H	H	H	M	M	L	M
Writer Enterprise gen‑AI platform with blue‑chip strategic investors; solid but narrower specialist base than frontier models → moderate across T1–T3.	AI SaaS	M	M	M	L–M	M	L	L
Perplexity AI Fast user/revenue growth and clear subscription/enterprise motion; less block supply depth vs. mega‑unicorns → T1/T2/T3 at M; T4 low.	AI/Consumer+Enterprise	M	M	M	L	M	L	L
Lambda $480M Series D, NVIDIA tie‑ins, and AI cloud demand → strong T1/T3; T2 rising as secondaries form; T7 moderate via infra‑style financing.	Compute Cloud	H	H	H	M	M	L	M
Glean New ~$7.2B round, enterprise adoption stories, and Work AI positioning — allocators/FOs comfortable with SaaS fundamentals; price‑maker interest moderate.	AI SaaS (Work)	M	M	M	M	M	L	L
Abridge 150+ health systems and large new rounds; specialist health funds (T3) lean in; allocators show once contracts season.	AI Health	M	M	H	M	M	L	L
Harvey Material Azure commit, expanding enterprise footprint, Magic Circle traction → T3 high; T4 mixed pending standardized KPIs.	AI Legal	M	M	H	M–L	M	L	L
Dataminr Large DoD contract value, Fortune 50 penetration, ARR near $200M: classic secondaries consolidator and specialist magnet; T7 high via data licensing.	AI/Defense & Enterprise	H	H	H	M	M	L	H
Groq LPU inference scale with sovereign/telecom & IBM partnerships → strong T1/T3; allocators engage as offtake matures.	Compute/Inference	H	M	H	M	M	L	M
Fintech / Infrastructure
Ripple Labs 2025 push into regulated banking rails (OCC national bank charter; RLUSD stablecoin) plus M&A in stablecoin/payments elevates T3 and supports T2/T4 once scale persists; T7 moderate via under‑writable payment flows and data.	Payments / Crypto-infra	M	M	H	M	M	L	M
Addepar Evidence of secondary market listing and pricing (Hiive, Forge) but less volume or block liquidity reported, so lower in T1/T2; strong institutional allocator appeal (T4/T5).	Wealth infra	L	H	M	H	H	L	L
ID.me Announced a dedicated secondary tender offer (~$67M) enabling existing shareholders to cash out → H in T3 (sector specialists) given identity‑infra thematic.	Digital identity fintech	M	M	H	M	M	L	M
Mercury Strong signal of secondary emergence (round included both primary + secondary) → justifies H for T1 and T2.	Startup/business-banking fintech	H	H	H	H	M	L	M
Uphold Real‑time proof‑of‑reserves / 100% reserve model; credible for FOs and some secondaries but allocator penetration still light; T7 moderate given transparent reserve data.	Crypto brokerage/exchange	M	M	M	L	M	L	M
Kraken Multiple secondary marketplaces listed, active trading of shares in private markets → H in T1/T2; notable for Credit & Data buyer interest (T7) because of custody/infrastructure aspects.	Crypto infra/exchange/custody	H	H	M	M	M	L	H
Coinbase Assets on platform ~$516B; subs/services ~$747M in Q3’25; strong stablecoin revenue. For exposure demand, allocators and credit/data buyers are H; T2 only M since private consolidation isn’t the route — exposure via public blocks/convertible/structured.	Crypto infra/exchange/custody	H	M	M	H	M	L	H
Climate / Frontier / Deep Tech
SpaceX Strong secondary signals: private tender of employee/common shares (~US$1.25B) valuing at ~US$350B. Supports high T1/T2, strong T4 as large allocators participate in pre‑IPO secondaries, and elevated T7 via collateralization and data revenue potential.	Space/Frontier	H	H	M	H	M	L	H
PsiQuantum Pre‑IPO marketplace access and observed private trading. Sector specialists (T3) high; fewer large tenders imply moderate T1/T2; T6 higher as accredited investors participate in quantum allocations.	Quantum	M	M	H	M	H	H	M
SandboxAQ Limited public secondary data; frontier quantum skewed to long‑horizon value. Lower T1/T2, modest T3, higher T5 as sophisticated family offices back multi‑year roadmaps.	Quantum	L	M	M	L	M	M	L
Lyten Materials/climate infrastructure with some private secondary activity; strategic value drives high T1 and T4 allocator interest.	Climate/Materials	H	H	H	H	H	L	H
Loft Orbital Visible pre‑IPO private share trading and live order‑book signals. T3 strong for space specialists; T6 higher where smaller accredited investors access these secondaries.	Space/Infra	M	M	H	M	H	H	M
Robotics
Apptronik Active private‑market secondary trading visible (e.g., marketplaces list it) — strong Tier 1 signals.	Robotics	H	M	L	H	M	L	H
Gecko Robotics Less broad block/tender news but clear secondary access via private markets; strong specialist traction → Tier 3 high.	Robotics	M	L	H	M	L	H	M
Figure AI Secondary trading restricted/board‑controlled in periods; supply side weaker for Tier 1. High demand and specialist interest → Tier 2 high.	Robotics	M	H	M	L	H	M	L
Zipline Transparent secondary listings and liquidity visibility → strong Tier 1 and Tier 4 signals.	Robotics / Drone Logistics	H	M	L	H	M	L	H
1X Public data is limited; moderate Tier 3, lower Tier 2/4 until more signals emerge.	Robotics	M	L	H	M	L	H	M