Reinventing investment access: How technology is democratising the private markets

Unlocking Private Market Potential: Augment Markets Revolutionizes Investment Access for All

Mr. Adam Crawley, Co-Founder and CEO of Augment Markets, introduced his company’s mission to democratize access to private technology company shares. Augment Markets operates a private marketplace, functioning as a stock exchange for these assets. Historically, this market has been opaque and fragmented. A significant structural shift over two decades means tech companies now stay private for an average of 14 years, with most capital appreciation occurring privately. While capital raising and branding are now solved privately, liquidity remains the key friction point Augment addresses.

Mr. Crawley’s career at Morgan Stanley and later SharesPost, where he helped establish the NASDAQ Private Market, revealed the limitations of traditional brokerage models. Recognizing this, he co-founded Augment Markets 4.5 years ago with Noel, an early Google engineer. Their focus is on building a technology-driven solution to create electronic trading and resolve the execution challenges hindering private market liquidity.

Augment Markets has raised approximately $20 million and has been commercially active for over two years. Its flagship product, “The Collective,” centralizes order flows from both institutional and retail investors into its investment vehicles. This strategy is proving highly successful, with the company projected to surpass $1 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) within the current or next quarter, effectively solving market execution problems.

A mobile trading app, similar to Robinhood, is set to launch in the coming months, offering retail investors easy access to shares in prominent private companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Stripe. Concurrently, Augment is forging institutional partnerships with wealth managers, RIAs, and banks through API connections, channeling investments into its Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and increasing its direct presence on company cap tables.

Augment Markets operates under FINRA and SEC regulation, holding an Alternative Trading System (ATS) license, one of about 60 in the U.S. An RIA license further enables them to offer diverse financial products, including index funds, diversified funds, and sector-specific baskets (e.g., AI or space funds). These products aim to provide broad, diversified exposure to the private markets, attracting more volume to the ecosystem.

Mr. Crawley envisions Augment Markets creating a new, global private stock market that competes with traditional exchanges like the NYSE and NASDAQ. He draws parallels with the crypto market’s demonstration of private asset liquidity and highlights the potential for tokenization across all equities. If regulators allow broader retail access, a global demand base could readily meet the global supply of private technology companies worldwide, transforming the investment landscape. Mr. Crawley is actively engaging with international exchanges to foster collaboration and expand Augment’s global reach.