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Wall Street heavyweights have increasingly ventured into research coverage on privately held companies this year as some of the world's most valuable startups, including ChatGPT-parent OpenAI and Elon Musk's SpaceX, have stayed away from going public for longer than similar companies in the past. Sign up here. "While we have been publishing on private companies since 2017, we are now expanding our private company coverage to deliver deeper analysis, broaden our reach, and stay ahead of client demand," Morgan Stanley's Global Director of Research Katy Huberty said in the memo. NEW FRONTIER Privately held companies were once overlooked by Wall Street analysts because limited financial disclosure meant traditional research frameworks did not account for them, but their scale now makes them hard to ignore. Institutional investors are increasingly looking to private markets, where emerging companies are building products and technologies that influence long-standing industry leaders. "Private companies have long been fundamental to research, and client interest in these markets continues to grow as companies stay private for longer," Huberty said. As of October 1, there were over 1,500 active unicorns, or companies valued at $1 billion or more, globally, according to PitchBook data. These companies have raised roughly $1 trillion in venture capital funding. Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Manya reports on prominent publicly listed U.S. financial firms, including Wall Street’s biggest banks, card companies, asset managers, and fintechs. She also covers late-stage venture capital funding, initial public offerings on U.S. exchanges, and regulatory developments in the cryptocurrency industry. Her work appears in the finance, markets, business, and future of money sections of the Reuters website. A passionate reader, she loves books across genres, from classics to contemporary fiction. She holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Delhi and a master’s in journalism from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication.
