Japan’s $100M secondary blueprint: how Coral, General Atlantic, and SmartHR did it without a discount | Japan Go IPO

“We think in terms of years, not quarters.” At Japan Go IPO, Coral Capital Founding Partner & CEO James Riney joins General Atlantic VP Anthony Costa and SmartHR Director & CFO Yuji Mori. The four of them break down the deal that sits between them: General Atlantic’s nearly $100M purchase of SmartHR shares from Coral, called the largest venture secondary in Japan’s history. James tells how Coral, which had “bet the farm” on SmartHR through an SPV, planned to sell a third of its stake and ended up selling half. It took no discount, at a time when most secondary buyers were demanding steep ones. Moderator: Jordan Fisher (Founder and Managing Partner, Shiza Ventures) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanfisher/ X: https://x.com/Jordan_J_Fisher Speakers: Anthony Costa (VP, General Atlantic) Yuji Mori (Director and CFO, SmartHR) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuji-mori-b71b74b2/ X: https://x.com/yjmr_1101 James Riney (Founding Partner and CEO, Coral Capital) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesriney/ X: https://x.com/james_riney Chapters: (00:00) Introduction to Japanese Secondaries (02:20) Panel introduction and SmartHR case study (08:02) Why General Atlantic invested in SmartHR (12:44) LP Perspectives and managing management time (18:27) Financial due diligence and deal valuation (26:41) Cap table management and future IPO strategy (30:00) Future blueprint for Japanese secondaries