How to invest in ByteDance pre-IPO

ByteDance, the Chinese-based parent company of social media app TikTok, has been at the center of political and legal battles in the U.S. lately. Still, it remains one of the most valuable private companies.

In particular, a U.S. law passed in 2024 required ByteDance to either sell its interest in TikTok or be banned within the country, which the Supreme Court upheld in early 2025.¹ However, when President Trump took office on January 20, 2025, he signed an executive order pausing enforcement of the ban for 75 days while his administration reviewed what to do.² And while Apple and Google temporarily stopped allowing downloads of TikTok through their app stores, they brought the app back in mid-February.³

Still, much remains to be seen regarding what will happen to TikTok. ByteDance is reportedly trying to work out an agreement with U.S. officials to avoid a full divestiture of TikTok in the U.S. but might allow more U.S.-based ownership, for example.⁴

Regardless, ByteDance is seen by many investors as having tremendous value. Three of its prominent investors — SoftBank, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price — have all recently marked up the company's valuation above $400 billion, as Bloomberg reported.⁵

However, speculation about a possible IPO for ByteDance seems to have fizzled, at least temporarily. Back in 2020, though, Bloomberg reported that ByteDance was planning to spin off TikTok and form a new company with Oracle that would have an initial public offering around 2021.⁶

For now, interested investors might try to find private market shares of ByteDance through a secondary marketplace like Forge, or gain similar or indirect exposure through other avenues.

Here, we'll take a closer look at how to invest in ByteDance stock pre-IPO.

ByteDance: Company background

ByteDance began in 2012 as a mobile internet company founded by Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo.⁷ The company first launched a content discovery platform, Toutiao, but it has since become best known for launching TikTok in 2017.⁸

Shortly after launching TikTok, ByteDance bought a similar Chinese-based app, Musical.ly, for $1 billion. ByteDance then merged the two social media platforms into just TikTok in 2018.⁹

Over the years, TikTok's growth has exploded, especially during the pandemic, with an estimated number of users exceeding two billion globally in 2024.¹⁰

However, the fate of TikTok and ByteDance's ownership of the platform in markets like the U.S. remains uncertain.

ByteDance stock and funding history

ByteDance's funding rounds aren't quite as well-known as some other venture-backed companies, but its early investors include Susquehanna International Group (SIG), who put in $5 million in 2012, the year the company was first founded.¹¹

A 2014 funding round valued ByteDance at $500 million and included investors such as Sequoia Capital.¹² In 2016, its valuation reportedly jumped to over $10 billion, before even launching TikTok.¹³ Then in 2017, General Atlantic invested in the company with its valuation climbing to $20 billion by then.¹⁴

In 2018, ByteDance raised $3 billion at a $75 billion valuation from investors such as SoftBank and KKR.¹⁵

Even with the uncertainty around TikTok's fate, parent company ByteDance has been using buybacks to reward insiders, and its implied valuation has been growing accordingly. Most recently, ByteDance valued itself at $300 billion in a buyback offer, as reported by The Wall Street Journal in November 2024.¹⁶ This follows a company buyback in December 2023 that valued the company at $268 billion, and ByteDance's tender offer to employees in October 2023 implied a valuation of nearly $225 billion.¹⁷

More recently, as mentioned, some investors have been marking up their valuations of ByteDance even higher, exceeding $400 billion.¹⁸

How to buy ByteDance stock

As a private company, ByteDance stock is not for sale to the general public. If ByteDance does eventually go public, then its stock would be more readily available.

For now, investment is typically limited to high-net-worth or institutional investors chosen to participate in primary funding rounds or strategic investments. That said, if existing investors decide to/are able to list shares for sale on a secondary marketplace such as Forge, then accredited investors could potentially buy pre-IPO ByteDance stock.

Who can invest in ByteDance pre-IPO?

Considering that regulations generally limit private companies in offering securities for sale, you typically have to be either an institutional or high-net-worth individual invited to participate in primary funding rounds or work out a strategic investment agreement to buy into a company like ByteDance pre-IPO.

However, sometimes private company shareholders like employees or early investors list pre-IPO stock for sale on a secondary marketplace, such as Forge. In those cases, accredited investors — those who meet certain financial or professional qualifications — could potentially invest in ByteDance stock pre-IPO, subject to availability.

Where to buy pre-IPO ByteDance stock

Because ByteDance is a private company, its stock is limited in terms of who can buy shares and where. However, if existing investors decide to/are able to list shares for sale on a secondary marketplace such as Forge then accredited investors could potentially buy pre-IPO ByteDance stock.

For those who are interested in investing in ByteDance pre-IPO may wish to create an account with Forge and speak with a Private Market Specialist to get more information about trading pre-IPO ByteDance stock if shares become available through Forge.

Alternatives for unaccredited investors who want to buy ByteDance stock

Plenty of people turn to TikTok to see influencers talk about financial advice — some good, some questionable, some incorrect — or they might make money through TikTok such as through brand partner deals. But what if a retail investor wants to try to make money by owning a slice of TikTok? While parent company ByteDance is not publicly traded, there can still be ways to gain some exposure.

One option is to invest in Oracle, a publicly traded company that has been partnering with TikTok as a data infrastructure provider in the U.S. Meanwhile, Oracle has been floated as a potential buyer of TikTok's U.S. operations, so there could be some exposure via Oracle stock.¹⁹ That said, Oracle's business extends far beyond TikTok, so there are other potential risks and benefits to investing in Oracle.

Investors could also buy the stock of ByteDance investors like KKR or SoftBank (the latter trades as an ADR in the U.S.). Still, this only provides a small slice of exposure, given these companies are invested in many other businesses.

Another option is to invest in other social media companies that are publicly traded, such as Meta or Snap. In many ways, these companies compete with TikTok, but growth in social media overall could benefit all of these businesses. That said, growth of TikTok could also cut into these companies' user bases, so it's possible they won't all move in the same direction.

Still, if you're trying to invest in ByteDance because you believe in the investment potential of the social media sector, you might try to diversify through multiple publicly traded social media companies, along with options like Oracle that have some more direct connections to ByteDance.

How to analyze ByteDance stock

Analyzing private companies like ByteDance can be difficult, given the limited financial details that private companies typically provide in comparison to publicly traded ones. ByteDance's own investors have varying analyses in terms of how they mark the company's valuation, and that can quickly change, such as with T. Rowe Price reportedly valued the company at over $450 billion,²⁰ not long after ByteDance's buyback offer valued the company at around $300 billion.²¹

Still, investors might look at ByteDance's holdings, particularly TikTok, and consider factors like revenue and user growth. Then investors could look at how other publicly traded social media companies or internet-related companies are valued, though keep in mind that valuation metrics typically differ among private vs. public companies, due to factors such as liquidity risk.

Also, looking at ByteDance's funding rounds and valuation growth could potentially provide some clues, especially if investors can compare ByteDance to similar companies trading on private marketplaces like Forge. Still, all of these methods are quite subjective, so it's important to figure out a personalized analysis style that you're comfortable with, knowing that other private market investors may value ByteDance differently.

Get started investing in ByteDance on Forge

If you want to invest in ByteDance pre-IPO if/when shares become available, create an account with Forge Markets to access our deep marketplace of private market securities.

When you create a free account, you'll be connected with a Forge Private Market Specialist to determine your eligibility, and from there you can potentially buy and sell private market shares in ByteDance and other startups.

Forge stands out for its transparency into what can otherwise be an opaque private market, and as a publicly traded company itself, Forge provides a regulated, proven way to invest in the private market.