The Blink Edition No. 5

This week's edition of The Blink: Radu Georgescu on LeBron's decision and knowing when to walk away, why liquidity has become a decision rather than an event, UNTOLD up close before the round opens, and the week's reads.

July 27, 2026

min read

The European private markets briefing you can't afford to miss. Deals, signals, and moves, decoded every Monday by SeedBlink.

The basketball world spent this month debating LeBron's decision. I spent it thinking about what his decision says about building companies.

LeBron is, at heart, a serial entrepreneur. He understands when a project has run its course: when to end it, how to end it, and how to start over. He draws renewed energy from building something new. As someone who has done this several times myself, I recognize the instinct: moving on isn't failure, it's a new start. It's learning and growing.

But then there's Steph Curry, and I have to admire the opposite: extreme loyalty. He is Golden State. If anyone in the world is linked to one club, one brand, one project, it's him. And honestly, I'm not sure which path I appreciate more, because I understand the perks and the costs of both.

The leadership styles differ too. LeBron is the army leader: I show you the direction, I run first, you follow. Steph empowers people and makes everyone around him better. Neither is wrong. But I'd argue they're the only two styles that, combined, make 1+1=3.

Founders face the same fork constantly: double down or start over, lead from the front or build from behind. There's no universal answer. The only real mistake is not knowing which game you're playing.

PS: Interestingly, LeBron chose Philly. Even this choice was outrageously entrepreneurial: he saw the best opportunity to maximize his chances for one more title. No soft wins, no philosophy. No stories, no emotion. Pure "win now" focus. Philly it is for him, and we will never have the chance to see them play and win together. The Olympics will remain a gem in our memories.

Every investor knows the feeling of holding a position past its natural ending. The thesis has changed, the timeline has stretched, but selling feels like giving up. The numbers suggest fewer and fewer investors are willing to wait it out.

Global secondary market volume hit a record $118 billion in the first half of 2026, up 15% year on year, after 2025 closed at $240 billion, a 48% jump and the largest year ever recorded. Jefferies sees a path for annual volume to approach $300 billion within the next two years. What was once treated mainly as a liquidity tool for exceptional situations has become core portfolio infrastructure.

We think this is the most consequential behavioural shift in private markets right now: liquidity has become a decision, not an event. For years, the exit was something that happened to you: the IPO window opened or it didn't, the acquirer called or they didn't. The investors driving these volumes have stopped waiting for the calendar to cooperate. They take partial liquidity when pricing is fair, sell positions whose thesis has run its course, and recycle capital into the next opportunity instead of riding every investment to its final page.

There's a lesson in it that echoes what serial entrepreneurs already know: ending something well is a skill, not a defeat. Loyalty to a portfolio company is a virtue. Loyalty to a position long after the thesis has changed is just cost disguised as conviction. In a market that now offers real ways out, staying put is no longer the default. It's a choice, and it should be an active one.

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UNTOLD, up close before the round opens

The countdown continues. As announced, one of Europe's most recognized festival brands will soon open a public investment round on SeedBlink, giving individual investors, for the first time, the opportunity to become part of its next chapter.

This week, there's more to dig into. Ahead of the opening, UNTOLD founder Bogdan Buta and our Head of Investment Syndication, Bogdan Stoian, sat down with start-up.ro to discuss the business behind the brand, the company's ambitions beyond live events, and what this next chapter means for investors.

Watch the full conversation

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UK 🇬🇧

Moa Technology raises €25.9M Series C
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The Oxford-based agricultural biotech raised €25.9M co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Supernova Invest to tackle weed resistance to herbicides, a quietly critical food-security problem, with backing that now includes Magdalen College Oxford and Australia's grain industry fund.

The Blink Edition No. 5

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