The Augment Blog

Explore the top platforms offering pre-IPO liquidity for accredited investors. Learn where to invest in private companies with more flexibility and exit potential.

Trump’s August 7, 2025 order aims to let 401(k) savers invest in alternatives like private equity, crypto, and real estate, potentially unlocking billions for private markets, but success depends on infrastructure and investor education.

AI-native browsers like Perplexity’s Comet, OpenAI’s upcoming browser, and Dia are challenging Chrome by using built-in AI to summarize, automate tasks, and deliver answers without traditional search or ads. This shift threatens Google’s ad-driven model and creates new high-value opportunities for investors, though adoption faces hurdles like cost, performance, and user inertia.

Figma’s IPO popped 250%, showing how broken pricing left billions lost. Lack of secondary trading hurt price discovery, benefiting institutions over retail. Pre-IPO liquidity could fix this.

In Q2 2025, private markets saw a surge in investor activity, driven by high-profile IPOs (Circle, CoreWeave) and Figma’s S-1, pushing the combined market cap of the top 20 pre-IPO companies to $1.67 trillion — up 47% in just six months. AI companies dominated the landscape, making up half the Power 20 and accounting for 55% of both market cap and activity, led by standout performances from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Cursor AI (+63.3% share price, +9,900% revenue growth). Defense tech quietly held strong, with SpaceX, Anduril, and Shield AI contributing 22.5% of activity, underscoring consistent investor conviction outside of AI.

Meta’s recent investment in Scale AI goes beyond headline buzz—it stands out as possibly the most pivotal AI liquidity event of the year. Valued between $14.8 and $15 billion for a 49% ownership stake, this move reflects one of the most unconventional and strategically ambitious M&A maneuvers in recent memory. For late-stage tech investors in the private markets, this isn’t merely a deal to monitor—it’s a game-changer that redefines the landscape.

Augment offers a cutting-edge way to invest in pre-IPO companies — but it’s not the only way. Investors are increasingly turning to special purpose vehicles to gain exposure to the private secondary market. Do the advantages of SPVs outweigh their drawbacks?

Discover how investing later in the private market cycle can reduce risk and shorten time to returns. Learn why late-stage deals skip the steepest part of the dip.

Want in on the next big thing? Learn how to invest in unicorns before they go public—no VC firm required. Find access and opportunity with Augment.

High-net-worth investors are tapping into pre-IPO secondaries for early access to companies like SpaceX and OpenAI — before the public ever gets a chance.

Staying private doesn’t have to mean staying stuck—secondary markets are helping employees unlock value sooner.

Learn what liquidity events are, explore real-world examples like Stripe and SpaceX, and discover how private market investors can plan around them.

From space defense to semiconductors, 2025’s private secondary market is buzzing with innovation.

After years of stalled exits, private markets are heating up — and in 2025, PE and VC strategies are evolving fast.

Retail investors are no longer stuck on the sidelines—private markets are opening up, and with platforms like Augment, Main Street finally gets a shot at pre-IPO potential.

A once-niche corner of investing is going mainstream — and in 2025, the private secondary market could be where innovation, liquidity, and opportunity collide.

Your private company stock *could* be your ticket to wealth—but without liquidity, it’s just paper dreams; Augment is here to help you cash in.

Private markets leaders hit trillion-dollar milestone as AI drives valuations 🚀

Our blended scoring methodology, using six broad factors, offers a lens for comparing the two companies side-by-side.

Augment’s quarterly Power 20 reports trace the rise of AI names in the pre-IPO secondary markets

Discover Augment's Power 20 Q3'24 report, highlighting top pre-IPO companies and market trends.

The Collective offers investors access, education, and community dedicated to the pre-IPO secondary market.

A new way for sellers to find liquidity for their shares.

Our journey to build a transparency equity marketplace.