Charles Schwab has announced the acquisition of Forge Global, a premier private market platform headquartered in San Francisco.
The deal, valued at approximately $660m, marks a significant move by Schwab to expand into the fast-growing private markets segment.
The acquisition is designed to deepen liquidity, enhance transparency, and broaden access to private market investment opportunities for individual investors. This transaction underscores Schwab’s ambition to democratise private market participation, traditionally reserved for institutional and high-net-worth investors. The company intends to leverage Forge’s marketplace and data-driven solutions to provide investors and advisors with more efficient access to private assets.
Founded in 2014, Forge Global operates one of the leading secondary trading platforms for private company shares, facilitating more than $17bn in private transactions to date. The platform connects investors, private companies, and employees seeking liquidity, while offering proprietary data and upcoming interval funds that lower the barriers to private market investing. Forge’s suite of tools is built to expand investor access and deliver more transparent insights into private valuations.
Meanwhile, Charles Schwab serves more than 46 million accounts and manages over $11.6tn in client assets. With a history of pioneering retail investment solutions, Schwab’s latest move accelerates its strategy to deliver private market capabilities to both retail and advisory clients. The company anticipates sustained growth in private wealth allocations, with global alternative asset investments projected to rise from $4tn today to $13tn by 2032.
This acquisition follows Schwab’s recent launch of Schwab Alternative Investments Select, a platform providing clients with diversified access to alternative assets. The firm also introduced Schwab Private Issuer Equity Services, designed to support late-stage private companies with equity management and liquidity solutions before IPO.
By integrating Forge’s expertise, Schwab aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem uniting private stock plan administration and liquidity access for companies, founders, and investors alike. The combined offering will strengthen Schwab’s position as a destination for private market participation.
Charles Schwab president and CEO Rick Wurster said, “Our acquisition of Forge builds on more than half a century of Schwab innovating on behalf of individual investors, advisors and employers. Through Forge’s leading marketplace, we’re uniquely positioned to deepen liquidity, improve transparency, and further democratize access to this increasingly important source of wealth creation for investors. Schwab’s entry into this space also gives private-share issuers more choice and liquidity for founders, employees, and early backers.”
Forge CEO Kelly Rodriques said, “This combination will transform how the private market works. With Schwab’s reach and Forge’s solutions, private companies will gain access to liquidity and new growth options from an expanded market of qualified retail investors, while investors will gain new ways to invest in the innovation economy. Together, we’re making the private markets work better for everyone.”
Wurster added, “Access to Schwab’s 46 million client accounts and $11.6 trillion in client assets creates a strong distribution platform for private securities. With the pool of private companies growing and remaining private for longer, a leading platform for individual investors to participate in private markets offers durable, strategic value. We expect meaningful growth in this space and believe our platform will become a go-to venue where retail investors discover new investment opportunities.”
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