Marketplace · Wednesday, September 30, 2026
A growing number of large private companies are opting to stay private longer, delaying IPOs and seeking capital from alternative sources like venture capital, sovereign wealth funds, and hedge funds. This trend allows companies to avoid public market scrutiny while investors can gain stakes at earlier, potentially more lucrative valuations.
“I'd rather invest in SpaceX at a $50 billion valuation than have to wait until it's a $1.75 trillion valuation in the public markets.”
“He says more startups are staying private longer and longer and getting bigger and bigger.”
“That has been a real dramatic shift over the last 30 years. But even in the last five years, we've really seen a lot of these big private companies stay private at valuations that we would have never, never seen before.”
“The stock market has a lot more liquidity in it, a lot more money than even all of the richest people on the planet wanting to make private investments.”