What sets Clay apart
Clay's valuation quadrupled in twelve months: $1.25 billion in January 2025, $1.5 billion in a Sequoia-led employee tender that May, $3.1 billion in a $100 million Series C led by CapitalG that August, and $5 billion in a $55 million tender led by DST Global on 28 January 2026 (Clay funding dossier; TechCrunch).
The January 2026 event was Clay's second employee tender offer in nine months (Clay announcement); a tender converts vested equity into cash without waiting for an IPO. For someone deciding which of a limited number of early-career applications to spend on a private company, two realized liquidity events inside nine months is a more checkable signal than a headline valuation alone.