Today, we’re introducing Ondo Private Markets, which gives eligible investors tokenized exposure to the economic performance of industry-defining private companies before they go public.
Starting with a pre-IPO AI company, the first market will launch this week with permissionless trading available on secondary markets. Exposure to leading names across robotics, cybersecurity, biotech, infrastructure, and other sectors will follow as Ondo builds out the broadest selection of private-company exposure onchain.
Exposure that has traditionally been opaque, gated by high minimums, and illiquid is now accessible in a permissionless token, fully composable and able to be traded 24/7.
Why Private Markets?
Private markets can offer even more in both breadth and performance than U.S. public markets, which are widely regarded as the global gold standard. 87% of U.S. companies with more than $100 million in annual revenue are privately held, including many shaping the next generation of AI, robotics, and more. They can also deliver superior long-term returns. Over the 20 years ending December 2025, U.S. private equity funds delivered annualized returns of 13.2%, net of fees, compared with 11.3% for an S&P 500 public-market equivalent.
Yet access to private markets remains out of reach for many retail and high-net worth investors, with high minimum investments create a substantial barrier to entry. Still, access is only half the challenge, with a lack of liquidity also holding back the asset class. Limited secondary markets make it difficult to exit, particularly for investors with smaller positions, who may have to wait years for an IPO. Getting in is difficult, and getting out can be just as hard.
“A huge and growing amount of wealth-generating potential is out of retail investors’ reach, concentrated in a dramatically smaller number of institutional hands.” — Eric Pan, CEO of The Investment Company Institute (ICI), the trade association for the global asset management industry
Open Access, With A Way In and Out
Ondo Private Markets brings together targeted exposure to individual private companies with permissionless 24/7 trading, giving investors exposure to top performing private companies, while unlocking the ability to transfer or trade their positions before the reference company goes public.
Specifically, Ondo Private Markets provides economic exposure to the economic performance of individual private companies through tokenized notes. Each note’s payout is linked to the per-share value realized on the referenced company’s common shares at a qualifying liquidity event. Eligible investors can trade the notes 24/7 on secondary markets or hold them in their own wallets.
Here’s why it matters:
1. Access industry-defining companies
Gain economic exposure to private companies shaping the next era of the economy, before they reach public markets. We're starting with AI, with plans to expand into robotics, cybersecurity, biotech, defense, energy, space, and more, bringing eligible investors access to the companies building out the modern economy.
2. Buy and sell, anytime
Private markets have historically offered limited liquidity. Ondo Private Markets enables trading venues to generate liquidity, bringing buyers and sellers together 24/7. Investors can increase, reduce, or exit their exposure through secondary trading without waiting for an IPO or other liquidity event.
3. Only the companies you want
Choose the individual businesses you have conviction in, without having to buy a broad fund full of companies you don't. Build exposure around your own view of a company's prospects, with greater control over which businesses you include and how much you allocate to each.
4. Self-custody and freely transferable
Hold your tokens in your own self-custody wallet and transfer them to other eligible holders. Onchain transferability gives you flexibility over where you hold your tokens and how you move them between supported wallets and trading venues.
5. Built on proven infrastructure
Ondo Private Markets is built on the same institutional-grade infrastructure that has made Ondo the leading issuer of tokenized stocks and Treasuries, with $3.9 billion in total value locked, over 1 million cumulative holders, and partnerships with the largest institutions in traditional markets.
Access the Fastest-Growing Startups, Starting With AI
Within private markets, the fastest-growing startups have delivered outsized returns. AI companies are leading the way, accounting for nearly half of all unicorn value. Together with SpaceX, the two leading AI companies are projected to generate more value than every U.S. venture-backed exit since 2000.
These private companies shaping the future of AI, space, energy, and robotics are staying private longer rather than going public, even as their valuations climb into the hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars. By the time these private companies IPO, a significant portion of their wealth creation may already be behind them.
“Today, the top decile of high-growth companies are almost exclusively in the private markets.” — David George, General Partner at a16z
Ondo Private Markets is built to provide a way to not only get access before industry-defining companies go public, but also a way to get out anytime if they want to reduce their exposure. The first asset, tokens referencing a leading pre-IPO AI company, is expected to begin secondary market trading this week, with robotics, cybersecurity, biotech, and infrastructure names to follow.
One Asset First, an Asset Class Next
What Ondo Stocks did for public companies, Ondo Private Markets will do for private companies.
Ondo Stocks became the number 1 platform for tokenized stocks with over $1 billion in TVL, bringing over 450 tokenized stocks and ETFs to global investors that previously never had access. Now Ondo Private Markets is bringing tokenized exposure to the most in-demand private companies, opening access to eligible investors worldwide, with 24/7 trading on secondary markets.
We're starting with one market, but we're on a path to redefine an entire asset class, bringing the broadest selection of private-company exposures trading 24/7.
