Private Markets vs. Public Markets: Where Is Value Created Today?

For decades, the public markets were where investors found the world’s fastest-growing companies. An IPO was often the beginning of a company’s growth story, giving public investors access to years of future expansion.

Today, that model has changed.

Many of the world’s most valuable companies now remain private for much longer, raising billions from venture capital firms, private equity sponsors, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and family offices before ever considering an IPO. As a result, a significant portion of enterprise value is now created in the private markets rather than after a public listing.

Why Companies Are Staying Private Longer

The private capital ecosystem has matured significantly over the past two decades. Companies now have access to larger pools of institutional capital, allowing them to scale without entering the public markets.

Businesses such as SpaceX, Stripe, Databricks, OpenAI, and Anthropic have reached substantial valuations while remaining privately held. Instead of viewing an IPO as a fundraising event, many companies now see it as a liquidity event after years of growth.

According to McKinsey’s Global Private Markets Report 2025, institutional investors remain committed to private markets, with many planning to increase allocations despite a more selective fundraising environment. At the same time, managers are expanding beyond traditional private equity into evergreen funds, secondaries, and other investment structures to meet growing demand.

Public Markets Still Play an Important Role

Public markets continue to provide important advantages, including daily liquidity, transparent pricing, regulatory oversight, and broad diversification. They remain the foundation of most investment portfolios.

Private markets, however, offer access to businesses during earlier stages of growth, often before they become household names. Rather than replacing public equities, private investments have become an important complement for investors seeking long-term growth and diversification.

Increasingly, sophisticated investors are building portfolios that combine both public and private assets to capture opportunities across the full company lifecycle.

Where Investors Are Finding Growth

Private markets now extend well beyond traditional private equity.

Investors have access to venture capital, growth equity, pre-IPO companies, private credit, infrastructure, and other alternative investments. Many of these asset classes provide exposure to sectors and businesses that are underrepresented in public markets, particularly artificial intelligence, fintech, aerospace, and next-generation infrastructure.

McKinsey also notes that private equity firms are increasingly creating value through operational improvements, technology adoption, and artificial intelligence rather than relying primarily on financial engineering.

Accessing Private Markets Through FNEX

As private markets continue to grow, access has become increasingly important.

The FNEX Pre-IPO Marketplace connects accredited investors and financial professionals with opportunities in late-stage private companies through an institutional secondary market platform. Investors can explore private companies before they reach the public markets, providing access to businesses that may still be in their highest-growth phase.

For investors seeking broader diversification, the FNEX Ventures Fund provides professionally managed exposure to a portfolio of late-stage venture-backed private companies. Rather than investing in a single company, investors gain diversified access to multiple private businesses across sectors including artificial intelligence, fintech, and aerospace.

Whether investing directly through the FNEX Pre-IPO Marketplace or through the FNEX Ventures Fund, investors can participate in an asset class that continues to attract significant institutional capital.

Conclusion

The discussion is no longer about choosing between private and public markets. The strongest portfolios increasingly incorporate both.

Public markets continue to provide liquidity and transparency, while private markets have become a major source of innovation, capital formation, and long-term value creation. BlackRock’s Private Markets Outlook 2026 highlights that fewer public companies, slower IPO activity, and expanding secondary markets are reshaping how investors access growth opportunities.

As companies remain private longer and institutional investors continue increasing allocations to private assets, understanding where value is created has become more important than ever.

Whether through direct pre-IPO investments or diversified private market funds, investors now have more ways to participate in the next generation of growth companies.

References

1. McKinsey – https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/private-capital/our-insights/global-private-markets-report-2025?
2. Blackrock – https://www.blackrock.com/institutions/en-us/insights/thought-leadership/private-markets-outlook

Disclaimer: This material does not constitute tax, legal, insurance or investment advice, nor does it constitute a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument. Securities offered through FNEX Capital, member FINRA, SIPC. The FNEX Pre-IPO Marketplace is intended for use by financial professionals only. Access is restricted to registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, and other qualified institutional investors.