Mission Markets First to Facilitate Secondary Liquidity for Impact Investing Markets

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) New York - February 15, 2011 - Mission Markets has taken a momentous step toward creating a secondary market for sustainable and impact investing with the listing of Better World Books, the first secondary offering of private stock. Mission Markets recently completed its first primary transactions on its fully functional, FINRA-regulated electronic impact investment platform.

“There has been a lot of buzz recently about increasing demand for private company stock,” says Mission Markets CEO Michael Van Patten, “We are simply reapplying the same concept being used by companies like SecondMarket, SharesPost, Xpert Financial, and NYPPEX, to increase capital flow into businesses that are making the world a better place. It is a good indicator that an industry leader like Better World Books is one of many enterprises that have expressed strong interest in using our secondary trading capabilities.”

Better World Books is a leading for-profit social enterprise that has raised over $9 million for high-impact literacy projects worldwide through the online sale of new and used books. The company is seeking to facilitate liquidity for some of its early investors and employees by listing its private stock sale on Mission Markets investment platform.

“Secondary liquidity is critical to driving a fast moving enterprise’s growth as it reaches scale,” says David Murphy, Better World Books President and CEO, “and we are one of the first in the impact investing space to reach this milestone.”

Van Patten, a 20-year Wall Street veteran, has been integrally involved in the design and implementation of private placement and illiquid security transactions platforms for several companies, including co-founding NYPPEX, which specializes in secondary private market advisory, execution, processing and research services.

Mission Markets will be hosting a “virtual roadshow” on Thursday, February 17, for Better World Books to present their secondary offering to accredited investor members via Webex. Sign up here as an accredited investor member if you would like to receive an invite.

Mission Markets has launched the first secure, FINRA-regulated impact investing marketplace that provides accredited investors, investment advisors, and other financial professionals with an efficient way to identify, evaluate, and invest in socially and environmentally focused companies. If you are an accredited investor or a socially or environmentally focused company seeking capital, click here to become a member. For more information, visit www.missionmarkets.com.

Better World Books (www.BetterWorldBooks.com) is a for-profit social enterprise that collects and sells books online with each sale generating funds for literacy initiatives in the U.S. and around the world. With more than eight million new and used titles in stock, Better World Books is a self-sustaining company that balances the social, economic and environmental values of its stakeholders. Since its founding in 2003, the company has raised over $9 million for its non-profit literacy, library and college partners; donated over 3.3 million books; re-used or recycled more than 40 million books; achieved over 17,000 tons of carbon offsets through carbon-neutral shipping, and created more than 200 full-time jobs with meaningful benefits.

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