Forge Global to go public in $2 billion merger with Motive Capital
At Forge, our aim is to create an accessible, liquid, and transparent private market. And we believe that by building the technology and solutions that give our users the ability to buy and sell private shares in some of the world’s most innovative companies, we help all who participate in the private market economy accelerate their destiny.
I’m excited to share that today we announced that Forge has entered into an agreement with Motive Capital Corp to become a publicly traded company via SPAC. And it’s a move that we believe will help us accelerate our own destiny.
We know that most people think of us as a marketplace for trading private company shares. But we're much more than that.
- With Forge Markets: We connect accredited investors and private company shareholders to efficiently facilitate private share transactions
- With Forge Company Solutions: We help private companies run primary and secondary financing events
- With Forge Data: We will provide market participants the information and insight to navigate, analyze and make investment decisions in the private market
- With Forge Trust: We help clients securely custody and manage non-liquid assets through a user-friendly online portal
As a leading provider of mission-critical technology, data, and services for the private market, we believe that our partnership with Motive and public debut will accelerate our ability to scale our technology and services and expand our footprint so that we can deliver more ways for more people to access and participate in private market growth.
Forge is currently at an inflection point. Going public via a SPAC gives us certainty of financing, cements our leadership position in private market services, and provides what we believe to be an incredible platform for future growth.
Going public also gives public investors an opportunity to invest in Forge as a proxy for investing in the private markets. This is an exciting time for Forge as the private market landscape continues to accelerate, and we want public market investors to go along for the ride.
Why Motive?
Forge had the good fortune to consider a number of alternatives as we evaluated our path to becoming a public company. Through that process, we got to know Motive, a FinTech-specialized private equity firm, and their incredible team, who deeply understood the opportunity in the private markets that we believe is ours to seize.
Reasons we’re partnering with Motive:
- Industry expertise: Motive’s industry partners possess incredibly deep industry expertise operating, investing and innovating experience in financial services and fintechs, ranging from startups to global businesses. And the Motive Capital team is comprised of investors with highly specialized sector expertise and differentiated diligence and underwriting experience.
- Partnerships: Motive is backed by a strong strategic partnership with Apollo, which is at the forefront of the technology-driven transformation underway in financial services.
- Technology and Innovation: Motive’s in-house technology and innovation team can support Forge’s innovation roadmap, from diligence to driving value creation plans.
Alongside its industry partners is the Motive Capital Team, comprised of investors that bring highly specialized sector expertise, differentiated diligence and underwriting experience. And then there’s Motive Create, the firm’s in-house technology and innovation team that permeates everything they do – from diligence to driving value creation plans with portfolio companies, which will be a feature of its partnership with Forge going forward.
In working with Motive, Forge is gaining a long-term partner with investment conviction, a track record of success and strong alignment with investors. And with Forge, Motive found a company that has a significant first mover advantage in a vast and rapidly growing private market sector, a strong team, and the opportunity to be the dominant player in private markets services, transactions and data.
The Future Starts Now
Forge is powering a liquid, accessible and transparent market, and we believe this next chapter will only expedite our mission.
Backed by Motive’s expertise, Forge’s 18 years of combined operational expertise and proprietary trading data in the private markets, and our coalition of global players, partners, and investors committed to making the private markets easier to navigate, we’re building the technology infrastructure to provide the transparency, data and access that private market participants need and want. We're excited about this next chapter, our future and about what Forge and Motive can accomplish together.
We believe the private market future starts now.