Wall Street is now seemingly betting big on venture secondaries as the market reaches nearly $95 billion. This, according to an update from PitchBook which noted that the US venture secondary market is accelerating rather quicklty, reaching an estimated “$94.9 billion in annual value across direct company stakes and continuation funds, the former of which jumped 31.4% from last quarter.”
PitchBook further noted in the research report that rising valuations for high-potential startups and persistent liquidity pressure are now said to be driving record deal flow.
Both Wall Street and retail investors are now said to be piling in. PitchBook pointed out that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Charles Schwab have all made key acquisitions, betting that venture secondaries will “unlock growth opportunities across advisory, underwriting, and wealth management as IPOs remain scarce.”
According to the report from PitchBook, the boom in special purpose vehicles signals soaring demand from relatively “smaller investors eager for access to top-tier private companies.”
Despite the considerable momentum, the research report stated that market remains “sharply divided.”
The PitchBook update also mentioned that liquidity continues to cluster around late-stage players in AI, crypto, and defense, while most startups “trade thinly or not at all.”
For now though, venture secondaries are said to be an important but seemingly uneven bridge between private and public markets—one that is “expanding rapidly but still far from satisfying VC’s broader liquidity needs.”
As revealed in the latest research report from PitchBook:
“Institutional interest in venture secondaries accelerated meaningfully in Q3. Dry powder dedicated to venture secondary funds remained substantial, totaling $5.7 billion as of March 2025. However, this represents just 1.8% of the dry powder held by primary VC funds, underscoring how small the dedicated secondaries pool remains relative to the broader venture asset class. General secondary funds—many of which allocate significant portions to venture assets—hold more dry powder at $135.1 billion.”
