Xpert Financial Launches, But Is It Too Late or Just in Time?
Late last month, having received the blessing of the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the highly anticipated startup Xpert Financial emerged from stealth mode capable of automating the business of providing liquidity to startups. The question now for the San Mateo-based alternative trading platform is: who cares? In addition to having to compete with supercharged competitors like SecondMarket and SharesPost, skepticism over its mission abounds, including from one prominent San Francisco-based investment banker, who privately observed to me last week: "Each process is highly customized and securities issues are unique, making it very difficult to execute these processes on a uniform basis. If it were easy, people would do it on eBay."
