Forge

For more than a decade, Forge has worked to make the private market more accessible, transparent and connected. Today, that mission has more scale behind it. Forge is now part of Charles Schwab, bringing together Forge’s private market expertise with Schwab’s scale, wealth management capabilities and long-standing commitment to putting clients first. For clients, the focus does not change. Forge will continue to deliver the trusted services clients know, while building on Schwab’s scale and stability to support a broader private market investing experience over time. What comes next is an important new chapter for Forge, Schwab and the continued evolution of private market investing. Read the announcement: https://lnkd.in/dkP2Csv9 #ForgeGlobal #CharlesSchwab #privatemarket #investing

The August edition of our newsletter is here, featuring the latest insights on the private market. Explore new unicorns, potential IPO candidates, the accelerating growth of AI companies and key takeaways from our Q3 Investment Outlook. Read the latest below. 

The unicorn ranks are growing. Last quarter, dozens of companies on the Forge marketplace crossed the $1 billion valuation threshold, joining the ranks of private companies valued at $1 billion or more. Among them: Corgi, Allen Control Systems, Wispr Flow and Rogo. As of August 17, shareholders of each company had shares listed on the Forge marketplace with asking prices, providing eligible investors with another data point as they evaluate potential opportunities in the private market. Explore the latest unicorns and secondary market activity on Forge: https://lnkd.in/d-je_Sat #ForgeGlobal #privatemarket #unicorns #investors

Our latest Private Market Update highlights a clear divergence in private market performance in July. The FPMI rose 9.3%, while the FAPMI fell -4.2% as SpaceX weighed on the benchmark. Public market comparables were also mixed: SPY was flat, while QQQ declined -6.6% amid pressure in technology and chip-linked equities. That divergence defined the month. FPMI was lifted by outsized moves in a handful of private companies, while FAPMI was pulled lower by public-listing pressure from SpaceX (-36.6%), whose post-IPO trading overwhelmed otherwise positive contributions elsewhere in the cap-weighted benchmark. Explore the August Private Market Update to see which companies helped drive FPMI’s gains: https://lnkd.in/gMPcjMh3 #ForgeGlobal #privatemarket #investors #investing

They may not know what we do at Forge, but they know when it’s time for attention, a walk, or a treat. Happy International Dog Day to all the dogs who bring a little extra joy to our Forge team! #ForgeGlobal #InternationalDogDay

The $100 billion milestone hasn’t changed. But for some companies, the path to reaching it has gotten shorter. Companies founded before 2011, including SpaceX, Stripe and Waymo, took 16 years on average to achieve this milestone. By comparison, today’s largest AI companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI, have done it in roughly five years. What's helping drive this shift? Technology and capital. AI-native businesses can reach meaningful revenue, user adoption and strategic relevance faster than previous generations of tech companies. Meanwhile, growth capital is coming from a broader set of investors beyond traditional venture capital. Dive into the data behind this shift in Forge’s August Private Market Update: https://lnkd.in/djVZf2mD #ForgeGlobal #privatemarket #AI #investors

Q2 marked one of the strongest quarters for private markets in recent years. Record fundraising, accelerating IPO activity and continued gains across many of the market's most valuable private companies helped extend the momentum heading into Q3. Forge's Investment Outlook breaks down the forces shaping the private market and what investors should be watching. Download the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g3evj4KE #ForgeGlobal #privatemarket #investors #investing

$10B was once a milestone. Now, $100B is within reach. Reaching a $100 billion valuation used to take decades. Today, several leading AI companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI, have done it in roughly five years. That compression in time-to-scale is one of the most important shifts underway in the private market. It is changing how investors think about growth, valuation discovery and liquidity. At the same time, July widened the gap between public and private market performance. Public equities came under pressure while private companies continued to generate positive returns, according to Forge’s August Private Market Update. Read more in our Private Market Update: https://lnkd.in/gMPcjMh3 #ForgeGlobal #privatemarket #AI #investors

One private market. Two very different stories. July’s FPMI and FAPMI performance shows why looking beyond the headline return matters when assessing where strength and pressure are really concentrated. See Andrew Alden, CFA’s full breakdown for more details.