# Quay

> Private acquisitions and acquihires for software companies. Built on Starknet privacy infrastructure.

Quay is a private venue to acquire or acquihire software companies in complete confidence. Confidentiality is enforced by architecture, not policy.

## What Quay does

Quay provides confidential acquisition rails — a platform where software company M&A transactions between two counterparties are conducted privately, with confidentiality enforced at each stage by system architecture, not by operator policy.

## Problem it solves

Disclosure in software company M&A is costly:

- **For a seller:** Exploration reads as distress — it emboldens competitors, unsettles the engineering team, and resets the price before negotiation begins.
- **For an acquirer:** Intent disclosed is leverage surrendered. The other side learns the position before a word is exchanged.
- **For both:** Conventional channels (NDAs, shared data rooms, email chains) manage disclosure after the fact, on trust. They do not prevent it.

## Origination model

Every transaction on Quay begins as a direct, private relationship between two counterparties — by direct origination, or by a mandate-matched introduction. There is no public listing, no open marketplace, and no browsable board.

## How a software company deal moves through Quay

1. **Origination** — A transaction begins peer to peer, direct with a known counterparty, or through a private, mandate-matched introduction. Nothing is listed.
2. **Confidential listing** — The transaction is described behind a verified pseudonymous handle. Identity and substance are disclosed selectively, by stage and by counterparty.
3. **Private match** — Counterparties are admitted individually against mandate. Nothing is browsable.
4. **Sealed diligence** — Materials and correspondence pass through a workspace inside a trusted execution environment — unreadable to the operator.
5. **Terms** — Agreements run on templates drafted for each deal type, so routine cases stay routine.
6. **Shielded settlement** — Consideration settles through a privacy pool. The existence of a deal is provable; the amount and the parties are not.

## Architecture: Operator-blindness

Most platforms ask for trust that they will not look. Quay is built so that it cannot. The operator observes that a transaction exists, and nothing further: not the counterparties, not the documents, not the consideration. This is a property of the system, not a clause in a policy.

Technology stack: Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) + Starknet privacy pool.

## Scope and roadmap

Quay serves private transactions between two counterparties for software companies. Supported deal types:

- **Acquihire** (Available) — A software team finds a home without broadcasting its position. Founders roll into the acquirer; selected assets transfer.
- **Acquisition** (Upcoming) — A software company is acquired for cash or on a paper-to-paper basis — in equity or token — without either side disclosing its hand.
- **Asset and IP sale** (Upcoming) — Code, IP, brand and domains transfer with clean title.
- **Exploratory** (Upcoming) — Counterparties test a position in confidence before committing to a process.

## Company

- **Product**: Quay
- **Built by**: Caddy Finance
- **Infrastructure**: Starknet
- **Stage**: Pre-launch
- **Access**: By request, small first cohort

## Key URLs

- Homepage: https://quay.world
- Request access: https://forms.gle/pZtF5kbo811ZwzNZ6
- LLM full context: https://quay.world/llms-full.txt
- LLM structured data: https://quay.world/.well-known/ai-plugin.json