Amazon Prime Day is right around the corner, so the deals are already coming in hot. For instance, the Oura Ring is up to $100 off. The discount depends on which design you go for. The Stealth Horizon design is $350 in all sizes, while many standard colors are $300. The gold option, however, jumps up to $450. The prices also fluctuate depending on if you choose the rounded Horizon design or the more blocky Heritage design.

OURA

For the uninitiated, the Oura Ring is a smart wearable that tracks activity, sleep and more. The main benefit of choosing a smart ring over another type of fitness tracker is portability. It’s a lightweight ring, so after a few days you forget it’s even on. We called the Oura Ring the “perfect wearable for people who don’t like wearables” in our official review. It even made our list of the best sleep apps and gadgets.

The device monitors over 20 biometric signals and is particularly precise when reading a pulse. The Oura Ring is also compatible with most of the most popular fitness-tracking apps, like Apple Health, Strava and Google Health Connect. Many of the designs are quite fetching and allow the device to easily pass as a regular non-techy ring.

On the downside, a bunch of the ring’s features are locked behind a subscription paywall. You get a month free with the initial purchase, but after that it’ll cost $6 per month. It’s also worth noting that this deal is for the third-gen Oura Ring. The fourth-gen device officially releases on October 15 and it’s smaller, with more tracking capabilities.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.

The secondary market for private company stock has emerged as an economically vital ecosystem for millions of U.S. private company employees and institutional investors. A steady and dramatic trend of the past 20 years is that companies are waiting longer to IPO, from roughly five years in 2000 to nearly 12 years today.  As a result, the size of the private market has grown to a staggering size, rivaling that of the U.S. municipal bond market. With over 1,400 unicorns globally valued at approximately $4 trillion according to the Crunchbase Unicorn Board, the private market now rivals the public market in significance to the economy, yet it lacks the basic infrastructure and fundamental plumbing to allow it to function efficiently.

Nasdaq Private Market: bridging the gap in the private market

As the secondary market for private company stock grows, trusted platforms like NPM SecondMarket^TM can assist counterparties across the ecosystem. As a comprehensive solution for private stock trading, SecondMarket aims to provide accurate data, streamlined trade lifecycle management, transparency, and reliability for market participants. With a decade supporting clients in the private markets, the company has executed over $50 billion in transaction volume since inception, year to date it has seen more than $4 billion in secondary trading activity. This platform not only brings much-needed order and confidence to a rapidly expanding market but also empowers employees and investors with the tools and information necessary to make informed trading decisions.

Data and guidance

The importance of accurate trade and private company data cannot be overstated in a market where valuations can sometimes be opaque and inconsistent. NPM offers detailed information on share value, helping employees and investors build confidence and achieve fair market execution for their shares. NPM helps clients navigate secondary trading and execute private company stock transactions. The platform’s intuitive technology and experienced team make the onboarding, execution, and settlement process seamless.

Trade lifecycle management: transfer and settlement of shares

In the public markets, trades now settle quickly and investors typically aren’t  concerned about settlement risk. In the private markets, the opposite is true. Trades often take months to settle. Friction is typically normal throughout the execution of trades. Employees, investors, and designated private company equity administration personnel can be left to navigate on their own how to transfer shares and access funds. NPM offers a settlement service to private companies and investors to ensure a more efficient process that can cut settlement times down to a week.  By managing the entire process from end-to-end, NPM reduces risk and uncertainties throughout the trade lifecycle.

Transparency + fees

Transparency is crucial for private market participants. Unlike the public markets, the private market lacks a consolidated tape, making it difficult to determine real-time private stock prices. NPM addresses this by aiding sellers in researching recent funding rounds and secondary trade history to ensure fair pricing when buyers and sellers want to transact. Some liquidity providers in the private market often take advantage of the lack of information about share value and fees. They may charge exorbitant fees for buyers and sellers to transact on their platforms, which can be as high as 8%. Alternatively, NPM operates a trusted marketplace with low fees and high integrity, helping sellers understand the fair market value of their shares and offering a flat, 1% commission fee on all trades. 

Reliable buyer network

The extensive NPM network of institutional investors includes a roster of some of the largest and most sophisticated buyers of private shares in the world. This is augmented by NPM’s ownership structure, which includes a number of the largest and most well-respected banks and asset managers in the world such as Allen & Company, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citi, DRW Venture Capital, Goldman Sachs, HiJoJo Partners, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Wells Fargo. This powerful global network of investors offers employees one of the best possible opportunities to market their shares and achieve fair market value for them, which can deliver a more efficient trading experience for all trade counterparties.

Maintaining company oversight

Unlike the public markets, private company share transfers require company approval for all trades. NPM allows companies to retain complete control and oversight over all transactions executed on the platform. In parallel, NPM’s advanced trading technology supports employees in navigating the company approval processes, automating each step and thoroughly verifying completion of each required authorization. Deploying advanced secondary trading technology such as SecondMarket helps users of the NPM platform sell shares seamlessly.

Supporting a $4 trillion market

The rise of the secondary market for private company stock signals a pivotal shift in the financial landscape.  As the private market swells in size, millions of private company employees rely on these markets to generate liquidity that funds important life events such as buying houses, paying tuitions, and investing in new businesses. Given their rapid growth, the private markets may be the future of the capital markets. Platforms like NPM are therefore crucial in providing the necessary infrastructure and transparency to power this rapid growth and increasingly critical need.

VentureBeat newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content. 

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

You can never have enough home security, and there are certainly no shortage of DIY surveillance devices. But if you’re the type of person who likes to keep tabs on package deliveries, front-door visitors, and whatever could be going on across the street, it sounds like you should be looking for security camera deals. Fortunately, we came across a great offer on one of these gadgets earlier today:

Right now, when you order the Blink Video Doorbell on Amazon, you’ll only spend $30. That’s half off its $60 retail price!

Why you should buy the Blink Video Doorbell

We see plenty of security camera promos on a daily basis, but this exceptional Blink offer is likely brought to you by Amazon’s October Big Deal Day savings. Take $30 off the Blink Video Doorbell when you order on Amazon. You may also want to check out some of the best Ring deals we’ve been finding.