Forge Global operates a marketplace for trading shares of private, pre-IPO companies. Buyers — accredited individuals and institutional investors — can purchase private company stock from sellers such as employees and early investors. Forge has approximately 700,500 individual investors and 20,500 institutional investors registered on the platform, with institutions accounting for roughly 57% of transaction volume. Transactions are primarily direct secondary transfers of preferred or common stock. Forge also runs a lending subsidiary that provides non-recourse loans for employee stock option exercises. Forge earns revenue through two main streams. Marketplace revenue (~48% of FY24 revenue) comes from placement fees on trades, data subscriptions, private company solutions fees, and asset management fees from Forge Global Advisors, a registered investment adviser managing ~$922M AUM across ~90 single-asset funds. Custodial administration revenue (~53% of FY24 revenue) is earned by Forge Trust, a South Dakota-chartered trust company holding ~$16.9B in assets across ~2.4M accounts, primarily self-directed IRAs investing in alternative assets. Custodial revenue is split between per-account fees and cash administration fees earned on uninvested cash balances, the latter being directly sensitive to interest rates. The two revenue streams are naturally countercyclical: marketplace revenue grows when private markets are active, while custodial cash fees benefit from the higher interest rates that often accompany softer equity markets. Forge's growth strategy centers on automating its trading platform, expanding its proprietary pricing data product, growing its asset management business, and pursuing geographic expansion and M&A in a fragmented market.