An exchange for trading in shares of private companies is going public via $2 billion SPAC deal

• Forge Global will go public in a merger with a SPAC valuing the firm at $2 billion, the WSJ reported.

• Forge allows investors to trade shares of pre-IPO companies.

• It will be the first exchange for private shares to go public, though the space is becoming crowded.
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Forge Global, a firm that allows customers to trade shares of pre-IPO companies is going public in a SPAC merger with Motive Capital Corp. in a deal that values the company at $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The deal is expected to close later in 2021, and would mark the first public listing of a marketplace for private shares. Forge expects to raise $500 million from the offering, according to the WSJ.

Forge, based in San Francisco, says it has almost 400,000 registered users, though due to Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines, individual investors must be accredited or high net worth individuals, while the rest using Forge's platform are professional investment managers.

According to the WSJ, Forge has handled $10 billion of trades in shares of 400 companies since it was founded in 2014, including Lyft, Robinhood, and Palantir before they went public. While Forge will be the first private share marketplace to go public, there are a number of other firms competing in the same space.

Earlier this year, Nasdaq announced it would spin off its private shares exchange into a separate business backed by investment from Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, among others. Other firms similar to Forge include Carta, EquityZen, and ClearList.

Motive Capital is a blank-check company backed by fintech-focused private equity firm Motive Partners. The SPAC is led by former JPMorgan executive Blythe Masters.