Liquidity and estate planning startup The Coterie raises $40M

The Coterie, a Palo Alto-based liquidity and estate planning firm for startup founders, has raised $40 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Why it matters: Founders and startup employees are not well-served by the traditional banking sector, which values income over assets when evaluating them for mortgages and other forms of lending. This startup hopes to provide an alternative.

What it does: The Coterie is aimed at founders who have assets tied up in illiquid shares of their own company or other startups they might have invested in.

• It gives them opportunities to diversify their wealth by investing in venture capital firms like Coatue Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Tribe Capital and Initialized Capital, as well as private companies like SpaceX and Stripe.
• Members will soon be able to get liquidity by borrowing up to $250,000 through its wholly-owned subsidiary Coterie Finance LLC.
• Finally, the firm provides estate planning and tax optimization services for founders who might have had (or soon have) a liquidity event.
• The Coterie claims to already have more than $500 million in assets under management.

Of note: The new round values the firm at more than $100 million and includes backing from Initialized, Pear VC and Google’s Gradient Ventures, as well as DoorDash founder Stanley Tang and AngelList founder Naval Ravikant.