Inside Schwab’s private market push | PitchBook News Summary

1. Key Themes

Retail investors are about to get real access to private markets

Charles Schwab is betting its massive retail footprint can finally break open the pre-IPO secondary market, historically reserved for institutions and the ultra-wealthy.

"Schwab intends, over time, to deliver broader retail access to private stock trading on the strength of its nearly 50 million client accounts." "The linchpin in this strategy is Forge Global, Schwab's freshly acquired marketplace for pre-IPO stock."

China's private markets are bifurcating just like its broader economy

AI-related dealmaking is absorbing a hugely disproportionate share of capital while consumer-facing sectors are starved of investment — a private-markets mirror of the K-shaped economy.

"Some 50% of Greater China's total VC deal values in 2026 came from the AI sector, roughly double last year's share." "PE backing for consumer businesses has dropped to $0.7 billion so far this year from $10.8 billion across all of 2025."

Liquidity is broadening beyond mega-IPOs

While headlines focus on blockbuster listings, the underlying data shows M&A and middle-market exits are quietly doing the heavy lifting.

"Acquisitions generated 2.7 times the value seen across all of 2025 in the first half of 2026, while middle-market exits continued their multiyear climb." "Acquisitions also remained the most common exit path by count, with 329 deals in H1 2026."

The IPO market is in a holding pattern, waiting on AI bellwethers

Non-AI issuers are pulling back until Anthropic's offering sets a pricing benchmark, signaling how much sentiment now hinges on a handful of frontier AI companies.

"The IPO market is holding its breath until Anthropic's listing. Holtec Nuclear and Bamboo Insurance Services both delayed their IPO plans, citing market conditions, underscoring a quiet September for US listings."

2. Contrarian Perspectives

Private markets aren't a monolith benefiting equally from AI hype — capital concentration is creating winners and losers even within "hot" markets like China. The consensus view of China VC recovery obscures that growth is narrow and consumer investment has nearly disappeared.

"PE investment rose too, up 62.1% in H1 to $23.4 billion across 172 deals. But almost two-thirds of that went into growth deals rather than buyouts, and PE backing for consumer businesses has dropped to $0.7 billion so far this year from $10.8 billion across all of 2025."

The retail private-markets trade isn't really about democratization yet — it's about wealth-management competitive positioning. Schwab's Forge acquisition is framed as retail access, but the actual driver appears to be attracting RIAs and wealthy clients away from specialized platforms.

"The $660 million Forge deal will make the brokerage more attractive to 'alts-heavy' RIAs and wealthy clients who traditionally have kept their private-market investing on platforms that cater to this market segment."

3. Companies Identified

Charles Schwab — Retail brokerage giant. Mentioned as making a major strategic push into private markets via acquisition.

"Charles Schwab has 48 million reasons to think it can crack private markets."

Forge Global — Marketplace for pre-IPO stock. The acquired asset central to Schwab's private-markets strategy.

"The linchpin in this strategy is Forge Global, Schwab's freshly acquired marketplace for pre-IPO stock."

Anthropic — AI model developer. Its anticipated IPO is treated as a bellwether holding back the broader listings market; also formed an AI deployment venture with Hg.

"The IPO market is holding its breath until Anthropic's listing."

Moonshot AI, StepFun, Kling AI — Chinese LLM/AI startups. Cited as the largest deals driving China's AI-skewed VC boom, all reportedly planning Hong Kong IPOs.

"This year's largest deals included LLM developer Moonshot AI, Shanghai-based foundational AI startup StepFun and Kling AI, an AI video-generation platform that spun out of social media platform Kuaishou."

Mirendil — AI startup founded by ex-Anthropic researchers developing self-improving models. Notable for its high valuation-to-stage ratio and pedigree.

"is in talks to raise up to $1 billion in a round led by Kleiner Perkins at a $5 billion valuation."

Andreessen Horowitz — VC firm. Notable for launching an unconventional post-secondary school, signaling VC firms' expanding influence into education/talent pipelines.

"Andreessen Horowitz launched The Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a full-time post-secondary school in San Francisco."

Mynt (GCash) — Philippines payments platform. Notable as a major APAC fintech IPO drawing in large institutional buyers.

"BlackRock and Capital Group are buying into the IPO of Philippines-based Mynt... expected to raise about 60 billion pesos ($957 million) in the listing."

4. People Identified

Rick Wurster — CEO of Charles Schwab, former wealth manager. Cited as the strategic voice behind the Forge acquisition rationale.

Wurster "said that the $660 million Forge deal will make the brokerage more attractive to 'alts-heavy' RIAs and wealthy clients."

Joshua Kennedy — Incoming CIO of Brown University. Noted for a leadership transition in a major endowment.

"Brown University announced Joshua Kennedy will become chief investment officer... following CIO Jane Dietze's departure."

Matthew Westerman — New chairman of Schroders. Notable amid the firm's takeover by Nuveen.

"Schroders named Matthew Westerman as its new chairman ahead of the London-based asset manager's takeover by Nuveen."

5. Operating Insights

Scale and existing infrastructure can be repurposed as a wedge into adjacent, opaque markets. Schwab isn't building a new pre-IPO trading platform from scratch — it's using its $13 trillion asset base and 48 million accounts as leverage to bring price transparency and lower costs to private markets, a playbook applicable to any incumbent eyeing a fragmented niche.

"It believes the massive scale of its platform, representing $13 trillion in client assets, is wired for success in bringing down costs and driving change to facilitate price-sensitive market information in the famously opaque private market."

Founders should watch sector-level capital concentration, not just aggregate deal volume. In China, overall VC dollars look robust, but that masks a near-total evacuation of capital from consumer businesses — a warning for founders outside the AI wave who may face a much harsher fundraising reality than headline numbers suggest.
Diversify exit strategy planning beyond IPO timing. With M&A generating 2.7x 2025's full-year value in just H1 2026, entrepreneurs and investors should weight acquisition readiness as heavily as IPO readiness, especially when IPO windows remain hostage to a few bellwether listings.

6. Overlooked Insights

AI companies are quietly acquiring stakes in traditional infrastructure/energy plays, not just software. Hg's partnership with Anthropic to deploy Claude across its portfolio, alongside XRG's (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) consideration of a stake in the LNG Canada project, suggests AI capital and traditional energy/infrastructure capital are starting to intersect in ways that could reshape both sectors.

"Hg formed a strategic venture with Anthropic to deploy Claude agentic AI across its portfolio."

APAC VC has still not recovered from its 2021 peak, and the pullback may be structural rather than cyclical. This stands in tension with the China AI boom narrative — suggesting the AI surge is a narrow bright spot within a broader multiyear regional contraction.

"$233.2B invested across 19,049 deals in APAC in 2021 marked the region's VC peak. The pullback since—driven by higher interest rates, weaker exit conditions, and a more selective investment environment—has been just as sharp."