Where investors placed the most bids in 2025
Investor demand can be a powerful signal in private markets — especially when it shows up as real intent, like bids placed on Forge’s Marketplace. While headlines and funding rounds can shape perception, bid activity reflects something more actionable: investors actively competing for access.
For investors, high bid activity can help identify where the market is leaning — surfacing companies with strong brand pull, resilient fundamentals or catalysts that are motivating buyers to step in now.
For shareholders, concentrated bid volume can indicate strengthening secondary liquidity and potentially more efficient price discovery as more buyers pursue a limited supply.
This week, Forge has compiled a list of the private companies that had the highest investor-submitted bids in all of 2025.
1. SpaceX, an aerospace company
SpaceX tops the list with the most investor interest last year. SpaceX has established itself as a leader in the aerospace industry. After completing more than 600 successful rocket launches,1 the company is looking toward its next major objective: a spacecraft reaching Mars this year.2
Founded in 2002, SpaceX’s high investor interest should come as no surprise. The rocket company has announced that in the first quarter of 2026, it plans to launch Starship Flight 12. The rocket, standing at 400 feet tall, is expected to be the largest rocket ever built.3 What’s more, the company has demonstrated its fundraising potential — it was reported in December that founder Elon Musk was looking to raise more than $30 billion in an IPO as soon as the middle of the year at a record-setting valuation of $1.5 trillion.4
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX’s Forge Price™ is $421.00 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $800 billion. Its notable investors include Coatue, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital and Valor Equity Partners.
2. Anduril, a defense company
Costa Mesa, California-based Anduril has been developing defense technology and national security software since its founding in 2017. The company’s investor interest peaked in 2025 after CBS News’ 60 Minutes highlighted its unmanned jets, such as “Fury,” in the spring. The news program featured some of Fury’s test flights, where it allowed its autonomous vehicles to engage while keeping its human controllers safe.5
Following the 60 Minutes report last year, the firm secured $2.5 billion in fresh capital, raising its valuation to its highest yet, $30.5 billion. Anduril’s Board Chairman, Trae Stephens, stated at the time that the funds will be used to deploy its manufacturing and production processes to meet the firm’s global demand. Stephens also mentioned that an IPO couldn’t be ruled out in the medium term.6
Founded in 2017, Anduril’s Forge Price™ is $104.03 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $77.61 billion. The private company’s investor list includes Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC and General Catalyst.
3. xAI, a frontier AI platform
Founded in 2023, xAI emerged as a newcomer to the AI sector, founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk. Originally created to align with Musk’s broader tech company ecosystem, the Palo Alto firm’s Grok model was developed and is now used in the social media platform X and other creator tools.7
Reports emerged late last year of the AI company’s potential upsized funding round piquing investor interest. In January, those reports were confirmed when xAI announced a $20 billion Series E raise, which put its post-money valuation at $230 billion.8 The private company stated the cash will be put towards computing power, including its 1 million square foot data facility in Memphis, TN, in an effort to better serve its 600 million monthly active users.9
xAI’s Forge Price™ is $78.28 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $241.95 billion. The private company’s notable investors include Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock and Sequoia Capital.
4. Anthropic, an enterprise AI firm
San Francisco-based Anthropic has rapidly scaled in generative AI and safe AI research. Known for its Claude suite of AI-enabled products, the firm has been eyeing new data centers in New York and Texas.10 Anthropic now reaches 32% of the LLM market share in terms of enterprise usage, more than its rival OpenAI, which holds 25% of the market share.11
Reports surfaced in December of an impending investment deal secured between Anthropic, software firm Microsoft and chipmaker NVIDIA, which could bring its valuation to $300 billion once finalized.12 Investor interest has been demonstrated in its reported plans to pursue a new round of fresh capital early in 2026 that will value the AI company at $350 billion.13
Founded in 2021, Anthropic’s Forge Price™ is $272.98 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $354.37 billion. The private company’s investor list includes ICONIQ, Coatue, Blackstone and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Anthropic is a company that could pursue a public listing in 2026.
5. OpenAI, a generative AI provider
Founded in 2015, OpenAI develops foundational artificial intelligence technologies used by more than 800 million consumers and enterprises through its products such as ChatGPT and the creative platform DALL-E.14 Nearing the close of last year, Reuters reported that the San Francisco-based company was looking into filing an IPO in the second half of 2026 at a valuation as high as $1 trillion.15
There’s little doubt that OpenAI’s popularity, high consumer usage and IPO ambitions have brought it to the top ten of investor bids on Forge’s marketplace. The firm has continuously innovated on its products, and just this month announced the launch of its ChatGPT Health to connect users with relevant medical information and access to records.16
OpenAI’s Forge Price™ is $723.00 as of January 9, 2026, implying a valuation of $499.92 billion. The tech company’s notable investors include Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital and K2 Global. OpenAI is reportedly one of the most valuable private companies in the world.17
6. Databricks, an enterprise software company
Founded in 2013, Databricks is a private enterprise software company that provides organizations with data and analytics infrastructure to enhance operational efficiency, supply chain performance and overall productivity. Most recently, the company has expanded its platform to incorporate AI-driven capabilities, strengthening its suite of analytics and machine learning tools.18
Databricks has consistently shown growth in its fundraising capabilities and post-money valuations, which could be one reason for high interest. The software company’s Series L funding round of $4 billion last December put its post-money valuation at $134 billion, more than doubling its valuation from a year ago. The firm’s CEO, Ali Ghodsi, told The Wall Street Journal of his “trifecta strategy” that could bring the company to a $1 trillion valuation over the next few years.19
San Francisco-based Databricks’ Forge Price™ is $197.60 as of January 8, 2026, implying a post-money valuation of $139.36 billion. The private company’s notable investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Partners, J.P. Morgan and BlackRock.
7. Lambda, a computing systems firm
Software developer Lambda builds computing systems designed to enable scalable and efficient AI and machine learning workloads. Headquartered in San Francisco, Lambda offers a broad product suite that includes Lambda GPU Cloud, Vector Pro GPU Workstation, Scaler Server and Lambda Stack.
Number 7 on the list of highest investor interest last year, Lambda has shown it can raise capital to grow its awareness and product usage. In November, the tech company closed a $1.5 billion Series E funding round, putting its post-money valuation at $5.90 billion. The private company made two veteran executive appointments recently: Heather Planishek as Chief Financial Officer20 and Leonard Speiser as Chief Operating Officer.21
Founded in 2012, Lambda’s Forge Price™ is $40.95 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $7.49 billion. Its notable investors include TWG Global, Gradient Ventures, G Squared and T. Rowe Price.
8. Cerebras, a semiconductor technology company
Making number 8 on the list, Cerebras is a semiconductor technology company that offers AI compute systems for machine learning and high-performance applications to enterprises. Cerebras is well-known for its high-powered, Wafer-Scale Engine, one of the world’s largest AI processors, designed to accelerate AI model training and inference.
Based in Sunnyvale, California, the company raised a fresh set of capital amounting to $1.1 billion in a Series G announced last September, putting the firm’s post-money valuation at $8.1 billion.22 In December, Reuters reported that the company was preparing to file for an IPO as soon as Q2 of 2026.23
Founded in 2016, Cerebras’ Forge Price™ is $39.04 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $8.73 billion. The private company’s notable investors include Fidelity, Tiger Global Management, Coatue Management and Benchmark.
9. Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine
Perplexity has been a rising star in recent quarters, having first made Forge’s list of high-demand companies in the third quarter of 2025. The conversational AI platform provides language models for search engines to help users get answers to everyday questions. To gain more users and expose more potential customers to its paid products, the firm made its new “Comet” browser available for free worldwide in October.24
One notable strategic partnership with Perplexity has involved social media platform Snap. In November, it was announced that Perplexity will power Snap’s Snapchat answer engine. The search function will be exposed to Snap’s 1 billion monthly active users and help them explore relevant topics and learn about things that interest them.25
Founded in 2022, San Francisco-based Perplexity’s Forge Price™ is $69.54 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $20.39 billion. The startup’s investors include NVIDIA, T. Rowe Price, SoftBank and Bessemer Venture Partners.
10. Groq, computing solutions
San Francisco-based Groq makes the final private company of the year with the highest bid count from investors on Forge’s Marketplace. The computing solutions company provides individuals and enterprises with AI-enabled hardware and software designed to reduce latency and improve processing performance.
Late last year, reports surfaced that NVIDIA would purchase Groq’s assets in a deal worth $20 billion in cash — one of NVIDIA’s largest purchases ever. The asset buy is framed as a “non-exclusive licensing agreement,” and Groq is still expected to act as an independent company.26 The news comes after Groq closed a Series D round, putting its valuation at $6.9 billion in September.
Founded in 2016, Groq’s Forge Price™ is $29.78 as of January 8, 2026, implying a valuation of $6.39 billion. The company’s investors include BlackRock, D1 Capital Partners, TDK Ventures and Cisco Investments.
