So why would Globespan sell its shares in UPWK if it still believes in the company? The truth is, the Globespan sale only represented a portion of the shares the firm acquired via its stake in the company. In a SEC filing from October 2018, it appears Globespan acquired over 12.5 million shares of UPWK in convertible preferred stock from its Series A and subsequent Series B investments.
In its recent sale, Globespan sold about 2 million shares of UPWK stock. According to the previous document of Globespan ownership in UpWork, this represents only about 16% of the firm’s shares in the company.
Selling shares of stock after an early-round investment goes public is nothing new for venture capital firms. In this instance, Globespan had come into significant equity in a company and were looking to take some profits off the table while holding most of their shares, still believing in the long-term value of UpWork as a company.
Hold with the experts
If these numbers show anything, it’s that UpWork insiders and industry experts are confident on the trajectory of the company moving forward. Early investors continue to hold their stake in the company, expecting even better returns than they have already received from venture stage funding. For the average investor these should all come as positive news and reasons to jump on the UpWork bandwagon before it’s too late.
