Inside Hiive’s Surge: How IPO Fever for SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic Is Supercharging the Pre-IPO Market

The financial demand for these private shares is staggering. Secondary deal volume across all private markets hit a record $226 billion in 2025, a 41% increase from the prior year and a figure that surpasses the combined value of all VC-backed IPOs during the same period . This trend has firmly established secondary markets as a primary liquidity venue for institutional investors .

The Mega-IPOs Fueling the Frenzy

The primary fuel for this demand is the impending public listing of the largest private companies in the world.

• SpaceX is expected to target approximately $75 billion in gross proceeds, which would be the largest IPO in history. Its recent activity generated more orders than available shares, with a reported 30% retail allocation—roughly triple the historical Wall Street norm .
• OpenAI closed a record $122 billion primary funding round led by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank in March 2026, reaching an $852 billion valuation. Yet within 24 hours, roughly $600 million in secondary shares went unsold, with bids coming in at a 10% discount .
• Anthropic has witnessed the most explosive secondary-market action. Its implied valuation crossed $1 trillion on platforms like Forge Global, surpassing OpenAI for the first time. On Hiive, it was valued at $851 billion, while tokenized markets on Jupiter pushed the figure above $1.2 trillion . Hiive alone registered over $1.6 billion in buy-side demand for Anthropic shares, in stark contrast to the softening interest in OpenAI .

The Competitive Landscape: Hiive, Forge, and EquityZen

The secondary market has consolidated around three major platforms, each with a distinct model.

Hiive: The Transparent Marketplace

Hiive operates as a live-order-book marketplace, offering the widest selection of pre-IPO stocks. Its key differentiator is transparency, with visible bid/ask spreads on over 500 companies. It has attracted retail investors but faces higher fee friction on smaller trades, with fees reaching up to 5% for buyers and 6.8% for sellers. At larger transaction sizes ($250,000+), its tiered rates become more competitive .

Forge Global: The Institutional Powerhouse

Forge functions as a registered broker-dealer and SEC/FINRA-regulated Alternative Trading System (ATS), giving it the most robust regulatory framework. It is the largest institutional marketplace with a $100,000 minimum investment, the deepest liquidity pool, and a proprietary Private Market Index. Forge was acquired by Charles Schwab for $660 million after processing $17 billion in lifetime transactions .

EquityZen: The Low-Friction Gateway

Acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2026, EquityZen uses a special purpose vehicle (SPV) model that simplifies access for retail investors. A critical advantage is that Right of First Refusal (ROFR) risk is handled at the platform level before investors are involved. Following the acquisition, Morgan Stanley cut EquityZen's fees from 5% to 2.5%, making it the most cost-effective entry point despite not offering direct share ownership .

The Backlash: When Unicorns Shut the Gates

This boom has drawn a severe response from the very companies driving it. In May 2026, Anthropic and OpenAI revised their stock policies to prohibit unauthorized secondary trading, throwing the market into disarray .

Anthropic went further than a policy update. On May 11, it voided all unauthorized secondary trades of its stock and published a list of specifically blocked structures, including Hiive and Forge Global by name . "We are working with Anthropic to remove Forge's name from this wall of shame," a Forge representative stated, signaling urgent negotiations . The company's transfer restrictions are embedded in its corporate bylaws, creating a direct legal conflict with marketplaces that had facilitated billions in demand .

This represents the fundamental tension at the heart of the pre-IPO market. Employees and early investors want liquidity, and external investors are willing to provide it at staggering valuations. But the companies themselves—particularly those on the cusp of an IPO—want absolute control over their cap table and shareholder count to manage SEC exemption thresholds and avoid a messy pre-IPO narrative. The result is a legal gray zone where a trade confirmed on a marketplace can be unilaterally voided by the issuer weeks later .

The Future of Secondary Liquidity

The AI IPO wave is not a single event but an ongoing structural shift. The combined market capitalization of just SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic could add close to $4 trillion to US exchanges . The capital reserved by institutions for the rest of this wave—including Databricks and others—has already been committed for the first three quarters of 2026 .

For platforms like Hiive, the opportunity is immense but precarious. Its model of transparent, live price discovery has proven its value in a market where official primary-round valuations can be months stale. A reported $1.6 billion in demand for Anthropic shares is a powerful signal . However, the platform's viability depends on navigating the legal pushback from issuers who view secondary trading not as a feature of a modern private market, but as a threat to their control. The resolution of this conflict will define whether the $226 billion secondary market becomes a permanent fixture of the financial landscape or a historical anomaly born of a unique moment before the mega-IPO floodgates opened.