Assertion Open AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Every private and public investor in Square made money despite valuation debates

Steve McDermott · a16z Podcast | On Recent IPOs and Comparing Private vs. Public Valuations · Jan 2, 2019 · at 40:42

Steve McDermott of Andreessen Horowitz reviews investor financial outcomes across all rounds following Square's initial public offering.

0:00 / 0:06exact quote · 6.9s

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“If you look back at the investors in every single round of private, as well as in the IPO, they all made money.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Investors in every single private financing round of Square, as well as in its IPO, made money on their investments.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim states that investors in every single private financing round of Square made money on their investments. Public SEC filings (Form S-1) and financial reports reveal that this is false. In October 2015, late Series E investors bought 1.9 million shares at $15.46 per share and waived their ratchet protection. These shares remained underwater relative to the $9.00 IPO offering price and the entire Day 1 trading range (which opened at $11.20, peaked at $14.78, and closed at $13.07). Furthermore, Series D investors purchased shares at $11.014 per share without ratchet protection, which was above the $9.00 IPO offering price.

Late Series E investors purchased 1.9 million shares at $15.46 per share in October 2015 without ratchet protection, remaining underwater relative to the $9.00 IPO price and Day 1 close of $13.07.
Series D investors purchased shares at $11.014 per share, which was above the $9.00 IPO offering price.

assessed as of 2026-07-28

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

⏳ prediction date: 2015-11-21; checked again automatically on the next resolution wave

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