Morgan Stanley announced that it has agreed to acquire EquityZen, a New York-based marketplace for private shares. The acquisition is expected to strengthen Morgan Stanley’s position in private markets by enhancing its end-to-end service offerings for private companies, employees, and investors.
The deal, anticipated to close in early 2026 following customary regulatory approvals, marks a significant expansion of Morgan Stanley’s private markets ecosystem, which includes cap table management, liquidity programs, co-investment opportunities, and secondary trading solutions. By integrating EquityZen’s technology and issuer-aligned model, Morgan Stanley aims to provide private companies with greater control over their equity trading processes while increasing access to liquidity for shareholders and investors.
EquityZen, founded in 2013, connects shareholders of private companies with accredited investors through a scalable platform. The company has processed over 49,000 transactions involving more than 450 private companies and serves over 800,000 registered users. Its technology-driven infrastructure will complement Morgan Stanley’s growing suite of private market services, enabling clients of Morgan Stanley at Work and Wealth Management to gain new access to private equity opportunities.
The combined offering will center on issuers’ needs, allowing companies to decide when and how their shares trade. The integration of EquityZen’s marketplace with Morgan Stanley’s cap table management tools will create an operationally streamlined solution for private market participants.
The acquisition follows a series of recent initiatives by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management to expand its presence in the private markets, including its partnership with Carta and the introduction of its Founders Specialist designation for advisors serving founders and executives of private firms.
EquityZen’s 50-person team, headquartered in New York, will join Morgan Stanley upon completion of the transaction. The partnership will align EquityZen’s mission of democratizing access to private markets with Morgan Stanley’s global scale and institutional expertise.
Advisors/counsel: Morgan Stanley was advised by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as financial advisor and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as legal counsel. EquityZen was advised by Perella Weinberg Partners and Evercore as financial advisors, with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr serving as legal counsel and Sidley Austin as regulatory counsel.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are thrilled to welcome the entire EquityZen team to Morgan Stanley. This announcement comes at a critical time in the development of the private markets ecosystem. The combination of EquityZen with Morgan Stanley will uniquely address client needs as companies stay private longer, such as delivering liquidity solutions for their employees and early investors in a seamless yet controlled process of their own design. With EquityZen, we combine our cap table management solutions with a private shares marketplace to deliver end-to-end solutions to our private market company clients.”
Jed Finn, Head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
“This deal helps us accelerate our already robust and growing private markets business. We are seeing rising interest in private markets exposure across our 20 million clients. EquityZen is the link that connects supply and demand through a seamless, technology-driven solution, broadening the toolset we provide Workplace clients, while expanding opportunities for Advisors and their clients.”
Michael Gaviser, Head of Private Markets at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
“We could not be more excited to join Morgan Stanley. This partnership isn’t about selling, it’s about scaling. Our entire mission has been to bring ‘private markets to the public,’ and by integrating into Morgan Stanley, we will reach more investors and shareholders than ever before. When our category-leading technology and welcoming marketplace is matched with Morgan Stanley’s comprehensive suite of products, services and offerings focused on the private markets, we can create a value proposition together for issuers, shareholders and investors that is unrivaled in our space.”
Atish Davda, CEO of EquityZen
