Morgan Stanley plans to acquire EquityZen, a platform for trading private company shares, reflecting the growing interest in private markets and pre-IPO investment opportunities.
Morgan Stanley has announced its intention to acquire EquityZen, a New York-based platform that facilitates trading in private company shares. This strategic move underscores Wall Street’s increasing focus on private markets and the rising demand among investors to engage with promising startups before they go public.
The acquisition represents the first significant deal under the leadership of CEO Ted Pick and is expected to be finalized in early 2026, pending regulatory approval. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
By integrating EquityZen’s platform and technology into its operations, Morgan Stanley aims to enhance its ability to provide clients with broader access and services in the private equity and pre-IPO market sectors.
Founded in 2013, EquityZen has successfully completed over 49,000 transactions involving more than 450 private companies. The platform serves a community of over 800,000 registered users, connecting shareholders of private firms with accredited investors eager to gain exposure to pre-IPO opportunities. This market segment has experienced rapid growth as many startups opt to delay their public listings.
Jed Finn, head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, emphasized that the acquisition will “uniquely address client needs as companies stay private longer, such as delivering liquidity solutions for their employees and early investors in a seamless yet controlled process of their own design.”
Finn further noted that this collaboration will provide “institutional-grade infrastructure to a marketplace that hasn’t always been easy to navigate for buyers or sellers and certainly not for the issuers.”
The acquisition comes amid a surge in investor interest in pre-IPO shares, particularly within fast-growing technology and AI-driven sectors. High-profile listings from companies like CoreWeave and Figma have heightened demand for access to private firms, resulting in a significant increase in trading activity on platforms like EquityZen. Data from the company indicates that EquityZen’s secondary market trading volume more than doubled in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.
Michael Gaviser, head of private markets at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, stated, “We are seeing rising interest in private markets exposure across our 20 million clients. EquityZen is the link that connects supply and demand through a seamless, technology-driven solution, broadening the toolset we provide Workplace clients while expanding opportunities for advisors and their clients.”
The deal is also poised to benefit private companies and their employees by simplifying the management of equity and liquidity events. EquityZen’s issuer-centric approach will allow firms to maintain control over the timing and structure of share transactions, integrating smoothly with Morgan Stanley’s existing cap table management tools.
For Morgan Stanley, this acquisition reinforces its broader strategy to strengthen relationships with private market participants. This initiative follows previous efforts, including a collaboration with equity management firm Carta and the establishment of a Founders Specialist designation aimed at better serving entrepreneurs and executives in the private sector.
A Morgan Stanley spokesperson informed Bloomberg that the firm anticipates approximately $100 million in integration expenses related to the EquityZen acquisition over the next two years.
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