The CEO of an alternative trading platform wants to revolutionize private equity investing to help ease the stalling of the IPO market.
So, Forge Global's Kelly Rodricks has teamed up with Accuidity to launch the Forge Accuidity Private Market Index this spring.
The ultimate goal: to give more investors easier access to unicorn startups.
“This is a major financial innovation happening right now,” Rodricks told CNBC's “ETF Edge” this week. “There is a future… where index products and other financial innovations allow every investor to participate.”
The Forge Accuidity Private Market Index consists of 60 private companies, including SpaceX, Stripe, and Epic Games, according to Forge Global. But until now, access remains closed to ordinary investors.
“Regulations today require you to have a minimum net worth to meet the minimum credit,” Rodricks said.
This means that even with Forge's new initiative, shares can only be purchased by institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. But anyone, whether accredited or not, can sell their shares in private companies on the platform. However, those same companies still have the right to reject transactions on the platform.
Rodriques hopes that these regulations will change as interest in private investment increases.
“We see a world very soon, where non-accredited investors can go into a basket of index stocks and bet on 60 to 70 names and themes, the same way you would in the general market, and that will really open up the space.” He said.
Disclaimer
