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Forge Global

“Can a private-market secondary trading platform become the definitive infrastructure layer for private securities access — and ultimately be absorbed into a major retail brokerage?”

Founded2014
HQSan Francisco, CA, USA
Total raised$85M+
Latest roundSeries B (expanded), 2019
Valuation$660M acquisition by Charles Schwab (2025)
IndustryFintech / Investment
The story

Founded in 2014 as Equidate, Forge built a secondary marketplace to let employees and early investors in pre-IPO companies liquidate shares before an IPO. After rebranding to Forge Global in 2019, it expanded into marketplace infrastructure, proprietary private-market data, and custody services. It went public via SPAC in 2022. In November 2025, Charles Schwab announced it would acquire Forge for $660M to bring private-market access to retail and advisor clients, marking the culmination of Forge's evolution from a niche liquidity platform to a full-stack private markets infrastructure provider.

Last 12 months
2025-11
Product timeline
2014
Founded as Equidate, a secondary marketplace for pre-IPO company shares targeting employees and early investors.· pivot
2019
Rebranded from Equidate to Forge Global and expanded Series B to $85M to broaden services.· pivot
2022
Completed SPAC merger with Motive Capital Corp and began trading on the NYSE under ticker FRGE, raising $215.6M in gross proceeds.· ipo
2025
Charles Schwab announced definitive agreement to acquire Forge Global for approximately $660M ($45/share), expected to close H1 2026.· acquisition
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Forge Global
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Forge Global’s embedded-finance stack
KYC
Alloy
Accounting gap: none