Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking to map out exactly how Forge Global Holdings, Inc. is turning the opaque private market into a liquid asset class, and that's smart, defintely. As of mid-2025, their business model is clearly built on three pillars: operating the Next Generation Marketplace, monetizing proprietary data on over 1,200 private companies, and growing their custody base, which hit $18.1 billion in Q2 2025. While transaction fees drive the bulk, you need to see how their recent acquisition and data partnerships-like with ICE and Yahoo Finance-are shaping their $52.7 million H1 revenue picture and justifying their tech investment. Dive into the nine building blocks below to see the precise structure behind their push for private market transparency.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the critical external relationships Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) establishes to power its marketplace and data services as of late 2025. These aren't just vendor agreements; they are channels for data distribution and client access that directly impact revenue streams and market presence.

The partnership with Fortune Media, announced on June 26, 2025, is designed to bring transparency to the private market via new lists and rankings. This leverages Forge Global Holdings, Inc.'s proprietary dataset, which covers over 1,200 private companies valued at more than $1 billion.

Data distribution is a core component, with agreements in place to amplify the reach of Forge Price™, the derived pricing dataset for private company equity. This dataset provides an up-to-date, indicative view of price performance for approximately 200 venture-backed, pre-IPO companies.

The collaboration with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) makes Forge Price™ available through ICE's global data distribution network, aligning Forge Global Holdings, Inc.'s intelligence with a platform used by institutions worldwide. Separately, the partnership with Yahoo Finance establishes a private market hub to surface this pricing information to millions of investors.

Here's a quick look at the scale of the data and access points these key distribution and liquidity partnerships support:

The alliance with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), established in the third quarter of 2025, is focused on providing private liquidity solutions to SVB's non-listed depositors and borrowers. This referral partnership is designed to help clients manage their capitalization tables and retain employees by offering secondary market liquidity options.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. also relies on an extensive network of broker-dealers and wealth management firms to utilize Forge Price™ for critical workflows like price discovery and portfolio valuation. The platform's overall scale, which these partners transact upon, included:

• Total Trading Volume in Q2 2025: $756.1 million.
• Total Custodial Accounts: 2.6 million.
• Total Assets Under Custody: $18.1 billion.
• Net Take Rate in Q2 2025: 2.4%.

Finance: draft Q3 2025 partnership utilization report by end of next week.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

Operating the Next Generation Marketplace for private securities trading.

Developing and maintaining the API-first technology platform.

The Next Generation Platform launched its new marketplace experience in the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Howe Ng serves as the Head of Data and Investment Solutions.

Executing the integration of Accuidity Capital Management.

• Forge Global Holdings, Inc. completed the acquisition of Accuidity Capital Management on July 1, 2025.
• The initial purchase consideration was $10.0 million in cash (subject to customary adjustments) and 1.15 million shares of Forge common stock issued at closing.
• Accuidity reported revenue of approximately $5.7 million for the twelve-month period ended May 31, 2025.
• The transaction is expected to advance the path to breakeven on Adjusted EBITDA by 2026.

Providing private market data services and proprietary pricing methodologies.

Data distribution activities include a partnership with ICE for Forge Price™ and a private market hub with Yahoo Finance.

Ensuring regulatory compliance (FINRA, SEC) for private market transactions.

Forge Securities LLC operates as a registered broker-dealer and a Member of FINRA. Custodial franchise metrics as of Q3 2025 include:

• Total Assets Under Custody: $18.4 billion.
• Total Custodial Accounts: 2.70 million.
• Custodial Client Cash: $454 million.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets Forge Global Holdings, Inc. relies on to run its private market operations as of late 2025. These aren't just abstract concepts; they are concrete, measurable resources that drive the business.

The data infrastructure is central. Forge Global Holdings, Inc. maintains proprietary private market data covering over 1,200 private companies valued at more than $1 billion as of June 2025. This dataset is built from thousands of private company transactions and hundreds of thousands of investor signals. Also, the Forge Price™ is calculated and disseminated by Forge Data LLC, reflecting up-to-date price performance of venture-backed, late-stage companies. This data powers their benchmarking tools, like the Forge Private Market Index.

Financially, the scale of assets managed is significant. As of the quarter ended June 30, 2025 (Q2 2025), Total Assets Under Custody reached $18.1 billion. This supports the custody franchise, which saw total custodial accounts rise to 2.70 million by Q3 2025. For immediate liquidity, the company held cash and cash equivalents of $93.1 million as of March 31, 2025.

Technology is a major asset, specifically the Next Generation Marketplace, which launched in Q2 2025. This is an API-native trading platform designed to integrate trading infrastructure, proprietary data, asset management, and custody into a seamless client experience. The platform's API-first architecture allows for extensibility into other platforms clients already use.

Regulatory standing is another non-negotiable resource. Forge Global Holdings, Inc. operates through its registered broker-dealer, Forge Securities LLC, and maintains necessary custody licenses to facilitate transactions and asset servicing in the private market space. These licenses underpin the trust required for handling significant capital flows.

Here's a quick look at some of the key financial and operational metrics underpinning these resources as of mid-2025:

The platform's technological foundation supports several operational capabilities:

• API-native trading platform integration.
• Data services powering Forge Price™.
• Infrastructure for secondary market transactions.
• Custody solutions for wealth and investment advisers.

The ability to generate data insights is directly tied to transaction volume. For instance, Trading Volume reached $756.1 million in Q2 2025, up 77% over the prior year quarter. This activity feeds the proprietary data engine. Finance: confirm the Q3 2025 cash position by end of day Tuesday.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at how Forge Global Holdings, Inc. delivered value to its clients leading up to its acquisition by Charles Schwab on November 06, 2025. Here are the concrete numbers that defined their value propositions as of late 2025.

Providing liquidity for private company stock before an IPO.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. served as a critical venue for unlocking value in illiquid private shares. The marketplace activity showed significant scale, especially when you look at the year-to-date figures.

• Trading Volume for the first half of 2025 (1H25) reached $1.4 billion.
• This 1H25 volume already surpassed the entire full-year 2024 Trading Volume of $1.3 billion.
• In the second quarter of 2025 (Q2 2025), Trading Volume hit $756.1 million, marking a 9% increase quarter-over-quarter.
• Marketplace revenue, which is Total Marketplace revenues less transaction-based expenses, reached $18.5 million in Q2 2025.

Creating transparency in the opaque private market via proprietary data.

The value here is turning opaque pricing into actionable data points. Forge actively worked to validate and distribute this data through major partnerships.

Forge developed proprietary pricing methodologies built on thousands of private company transactions and hundreds of thousands of investor signals. This data underpins Forge Price™, which was distributed via an agreement with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Furthermore, Forge entered a partnership with Yahoo Finance to offer real-time pricing for many top unicorn companies.

Democratizing access to private assets through structured funds like interval funds.

The strategic acquisition of Accuidity Capital Management in early 2025 was a direct play to scale asset management and lower investment thresholds for retail participants. This is how they are making the private market accessible.

The Megacorn Fund, targeting high-growth private companies, is being restructured specifically to become a 1940 Act-compliant interval fund. This regulatory change is key to opening the door to smaller investors.

Here's the quick math on the AUM expansion from that move: Forge added $220 million in Assets Under Management (AUM) via the acquisition, building on its existing $1.1 billion AUM within Forge Global Advisors.

What this estimate hides is the potential retail demand: global alternative AUM is projected to exceed $29 trillion by 2029, yet only 10% of U.S. households currently hold private assets.

Offering integrated trading, data, and custody solutions on one platform.

The Next Generation Platform is designed to weave together the core service lines-trading, data, asset management, and custody-into a seamless experience, extensible through APIs for partners like online brokerages and RIAs.

The custody business shows the scale of assets managed on the platform, separate from the trading volume.

• Total Assets Under Custody reached $18.1 billion as of the end of Q2 2025.
• Total Custodial Accounts grew to 2.6 million as of Q2 2025.
• Custodial Administration Fees less transaction-based expenses were $9.3 million for Q1 2025.
• Custodial Administration Fees less transaction-based expenses were $9.1 million for Q2 2025.

Enabling employees and investors to monetize private equity holdings.

This value proposition is directly reflected in the marketplace revenue and the Net Take Rate, which is the fee Forge earns on the traded value.

The Net Take Rate, which reflects the blended fee earned on transactions, showed improvement as the mix shifted away from large block trades in Q2 2025.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how Forge Global Holdings, Inc. interacts with its users, which is a mix of tech-driven automation and high-touch support, especially for big players. Honestly, the relationship strategy hinges on making the private market accessible while maintaining institutional-grade service.

Automated, self-service trading on the Next Generation Marketplace

The core of the customer relationship for many is the Next Generation Marketplace, which they launched to streamline transactions. This platform features an automated negotiation process to help users move faster. For the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, the total trading volume hit $756 million, which was up 9% from the first quarter of 2025. To put that growth in perspective, the trading volume for the first half of 2025 reached $1.4 billion, already surpassing the entire full-year 2024 trading volume of $1.3 billion. The efficiency gains are showing up in the net take rates, which ticked up from 2.3% to 2.4% in Q2 2025.

The platform serves various users, and Forge Global Holdings, Inc. is building out features to support them:

• The platform supports trading through Forge directly.
• It enables companies to raise capital via Forge investment funds.
• It allows online brokerages and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) to deliver private market access via their own platforms using Forge's API-native technology architecture.

Dedicated, high-touch service for institutional block trades and large clients

While automation handles the flow, the big-ticket items still require dedicated service. In the first quarter of 2025, the marketplace revenue was significantly fueled by 'several institutional block trades that closed in the quarter.' However, by the second quarter of 2025, the volume mix shifted, showing fewer large block trades compared to Q1. This suggests a balancing act: the self-service platform is growing its base, but the high-touch service remains critical for those multi-million dollar transactions that move the needle on revenue mix.

Strategic partnerships with wealth advisors for custody solutions

For custody and wealth management integration, Forge Global Holdings, Inc. is deepening its relationships, notably by acquiring Accuidity, LLC to expand asset management capabilities. The revenue derived from these custody relationships is tied to the cash held. As of March 31, 2025, the Total Custodial Client Cash held under their custody solution agreements was $459.7 million. This generated Custodial Administration Fees (less transaction-based expenses) of $9.1 million in Q2 2025, which was 'broadly flat' compared to the prior quarter. If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises.

The key metrics related to custody and institutional engagement look like this:

Educational content and rankings via the Fortune partnership

To build trust and provide market context, Forge Global Holdings, Inc. entered a strategic partnership with Fortune Media, announced on June 26, 2025, to launch new private market lists and rankings. This relationship leverages Forge's proprietary dataset, which is built on thousands of private company transactions and hundreds of thousands of investor signals. The data Forge tracks covers more than 1,200 private companies valued at over $1 billion. This data-sharing extends to other partners, including Yahoo Finance and ICE Data Services, solidifying Forge Price as a trusted pricing standard for nearly 200 of the most sought-after private companies.

The data underpinning these relationships includes:

• Proprietary pricing methodologies used to generate daily pricing.
• Data covering sectors like AI, health care, defense, and fintech.
• The goal is to surface trends outside the public eye, mirroring the Fortune 500 legacy.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how Forge Global Holdings, Inc. gets its services-the trading platform, the data, and the custody solutions-out to the market, which is a mix of direct digital access and specialized professional outreach. This is where the rubber meets the road for their marketplace infrastructure.

Direct access via the Forge Global online trading platform is the core engine. This is where the actual buying and selling of private company shares happens. The platform's activity directly translates into their marketplace revenue. For instance, in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, the Trading Volume on the platform hit $756.1 million, which was a 9% increase quarter-over-quarter. This volume generated Marketplace Revenues (less transaction-based expenses) of $18.6 million for that same quarter. This shows the direct channel's effectiveness in driving transaction-based income.

The distribution of Forge's proprietary data is a key channel for market transparency and brand reach. Forge has made sure its data feeds are integrated where sophisticated investors look. This includes data distribution feeds through partners like ICE and Yahoo Finance. Forge Price™, their derived dataset for about 200 venture-backed companies, is distributed via ICE channels. Furthermore, Forge launched a partnership with Yahoo Finance to provide up-to-date pricing information, valuation trends, and investor demand signals.

For high-touch, complex transactions, the direct sales team targeting institutional investors and private companies remains crucial. While we don't have a specific number for the sales team's direct revenue contribution, the Q1 2025 results noted that an increase in revenue and volume was fueled by several institutional block trades that closed in the quarter. This points to the sales team's success in securing large, less frequent transactions that move the needle significantly.

Finally, the custody business serves as a major channel, particularly for wealth management firms utilizing Forge's custody solutions. This channel brings in recurring, fee-based revenue and deepens client relationships. By the end of Q2 2025, Forge reported Total Assets Under Custody of $18.1 billion, up 3% quarter-over-quarter, supported by 2.6 million Total Custodial Accounts. The fees generated from this segment, specifically Custodial Administration Fees (less transaction-based expenses), totaled $9.1 million in Q2 2025. The acquisition of Accuidity, LLC, completed after Q2, is positioned to further expand these wealth and asset management capabilities.

Here's a quick look at the key performance indicators across the primary channels as of the latest reported quarter:

The platform's reach is also supported by its data services, which help drive engagement across all user types. You can see the focus on expanding the ecosystem through these access points:

• Direct access via the Forge Global online trading platform.
• Data distribution feeds through partners like ICE and Yahoo Finance.
• Direct sales team targeting institutional investors and private companies.
• Wealth management firms utilizing Forge's custody solutions.

The company is defintely pushing its data footprint wider to support the marketplace activity. Finance: draft the Q3 2025 channel utilization report by end of next week.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the client base for Forge Global Holdings, Inc. as of late 2025, right after their Q3 reporting and the Schwab merger announcement. The platform is designed to serve a broad spectrum of participants in the private market ecosystem.

The activity across these segments is reflected in the marketplace performance. For instance, in the second quarter of 2025, the total trading volume reached $756 million, with marketplace revenues hitting $18.6 million. By the third quarter of 2025, total revenues were $21.26 million, though marketplace revenue saw a significant drop due to a 44% decrease in trading volume that quarter.

The overall market trend suggests significant future opportunity, with US private market retail investor allocation projected to grow from $0.1 trillion in 2024 to $2.4 trillion by 2030.

Here is a breakdown of the key customer groups Forge Global Holdings, Inc. serves:

• Institutional investors (hedge funds, mutual funds, family offices).
• Private company shareholders (employees, founders, early investors).
• High-net-worth (HNW) individuals and accredited investors.
• Wealth and investment advisors seeking private market exposure.
• Retail investors via new 1940 Act-compliant interval funds.

The platform's infrastructure supports these groups through trade execution, settlement, and custody for pre-IPO securities.

The financial impact of these customer activities can be seen in the quarterly performance data:

For those interested in the market sentiment surrounding Forge Global Holdings, Inc. as of late 2025, the average brokerage recommendation from 5 firms was 2.4 on a 1 to 5 scale (where 1 is Strong Buy). The average 12-month price target from 4 analysts was $45.00.

The custody solutions also serve a segment of these clients, with custodial administration fees contributing to revenue, though these fees fell by 13% in the nine-month period ending September 30, 2025, due to declining interest rates.

Finance: draft the pro-forma capitalization table reflecting the $45.00 per share cash offer from Schwab by Monday.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the core expenses that keep the Forge Global Holdings, Inc. platform running and compliant in this evolving private market. The cost structure is heavily weighted toward personnel and the technology that underpins the marketplace and data services.

The total operating expenses for Forge Global Holdings, Inc. in the second quarter of 2025 were reported as $40.4 million. This was a slight decrease from the first quarter of 2025, which saw total operating expenses of $41.6 million. For the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), total operating expenses were $82.0 million.

Here is a look at the key components driving these costs:

• Technology development and platform maintenance costs.
• Personnel expenses, including a Q1 2025 headcount of 306.
• Sales, marketing, and business development expenses.
• Regulatory compliance and legal costs for a registered broker-dealer.

The company has noted efforts to manage these costs, including offshoring a portion of technology developments, which speaks directly to managing technology development and personnel expenses.

To give you a clearer picture of the expense movement between the quarters, especially around non-recurring or specific items, here is a comparison of the reported operating expense figures and related context:

Personnel expenses are a significant driver, especially with a Q1 2025 headcount of 306 employees. The shift in cash burn from Q1 to Q2, with net cash used in operating activities dropping from $12.8 million to $7.8 million, suggests some variable compensation or working capital timing differences impacted the cash component of the cost structure.

Regulatory compliance and legal costs are inherent to operating as a registered broker-dealer, Forge Securities LLC, which operates an alternative trading system. While a specific dollar amount for this category isn't broken out in the high-level reports, it is embedded within the total operating expenses of $40.4 million for Q2 2025.

Technology development and platform maintenance costs are being addressed strategically; the launch of the Next Generation Platform in June 2025 suggests ongoing investment in this area, even as the company looks to gain cost efficiencies by offshoring some technology development work.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (FRGE) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how Forge Global Holdings, Inc. actually brings in the money as of late 2025. It's a mix of transaction-based earnings and more stable fee income, which is exactly what you'd expect from a platform bridging private and public market access.

The primary engine is the marketplace activity, where Forge Global Holdings, Inc. collects fees for facilitating private stock trades. This revenue stream is directly tied to the volume moving across the platform. For the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), the Total revenues less transaction-based expenses hit $52.7 million. This figure represents a strong 28% increase year-over-year for the first six months of 2025.

Here's a quick look at the key revenue components for the second quarter of 2025 (Q2 2025) compared to the first quarter of 2025 (Q1 2025):

The Custodial Administration Fees provide a more predictable income base. For Q2 2025, these fees totaled $9.1 million. This was slightly down from the $9.3 million seen in Q1 2025. This segment is supported by Total Assets Under Custody, which stood at $18.1 billion at the end of Q2 2025.

The acquisition of Accuidity Capital Management is specifically intended to bolster the Asset Management fees component. This deal boosted Forge Global Holdings, Inc.'s Assets Under Management (AUM) by 20%, bringing the total AUM to $1.3 billion following the closing. This move is designed to increase the proportion of recurring revenue streams.

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. is also actively developing its Data licensing and distribution revenue, notably through partnerships for its proprietary Forge Price™. The company has secured agreements for distribution with ICE for Forge Price™ and a hub with Yahoo Finance to surface private pricing data.

You can see the breakdown of the core revenue-generating activities below:

• Marketplace revenue from transaction fees (commissions) on private stock trades.
• Custodial Administration Fees, totaling $9.1 million in Q2 2025.
• Asset Management fees from acquired Accuidity Capital Management AUM, which increased total AUM by 20% to $1.3B.
• Data licensing and distribution revenue (Forge Price™) via partnerships like ICE and Yahoo Finance.
• Total revenues less transaction-based expenses of $52.7 million for H1 2025.

Finance: draft Q3 2025 revenue forecast by next Tuesday.