Clear Street, a prime brokerage startup, put its own IPO on hold and is now aiming to let accredited investors buy into pre-IPO private businesses. The first offering is Databricks, an AI software company valued at $188 billion this month.
No direct Databricks shares are purchased; rather, Clear Street clients obtain a stake in an SPV that itself holds an interest in a fund owning the stock. As far as Databricks is concerned, the record owner is still that outside fund, where the positions sit legally, Clear Street said.
"The goal is to remove friction and give more people the ability to invest in more products," CEO and co-founder Uri Cohen said. "A lot of the wealth creation has been in private markets, and more and more retail investors and smaller investors want to be part of that."
According to Clear Street, users can fund qualifying pre-IPO positions through the offering. Clear Street projects the platform will include up to 30 companies by the close of 2026, Cohen said, with most being technology businesses in the $5 billion-to-$20 billion valuation bracket and expected to list within six months to two years.
Clear Street's SPV structure means the firm acts as the point of contact for its clients, while the underlying companies stay at arm's length. This lets the platform offer exposure to private businesses without needing those businesses to participate in the sale.
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An increasing number of companies remain private well beyond the stage where they once would have gone public, which means a large portion of their value build-up occurs before any IPO. The trend has intensified interest among wealthy investors who want access to names such as Databricks, Anthropic, and OpenAI ahead of a public listing.
CNBC reported last week that Goldman Sachs is launching a new vehicle to widen what it offers to affluent clients and family offices, who are increasingly seeking direct ownership positions in fast-scaling private firms. In a related move, Clear Street is adding a private-company research team led by analyst Owen Lau; Cohen described this as an attempt to apply public-market-style openness to private markets that have historically been murky.
For all the pitch about widening access, the underlying structure reveals an awkward fact: Databricks is not a participant. Anthropic and other AI companies took action earlier in 2026 against unauthorized secondary-market transfers, canceling SPVs and other indirect sales that violated company transfer policies. Cohen said Clear Street would act as counterparty and assume responsibility for the transactions. "If there is a risk, we are taking it."
In an emailed statement, a Databricks representative said the company "does not have any engagement or relationship with Clear Street."
This push arrives at a pivotal time for Clear Street itself. The firm's most recent private fundraising, earlier this year, put its valuation close to $12 billion.
Even with the IPO paused, Clear Street remains cash-flow positive; a $400 million investment-grade bond sale boosted its liquidity and funds the buildout of its private-company operations, according to Cohen.
"We're in a position of strength, so the decision was shelved for better timing," Cohen said. "We're definitely going to look towards a '27 listing, depending on the market conditions."
The move is the latest sign of how hard financial institutions are competing to tap investor appetite for pre-IPO opportunities. Clear Street's platform is designed for accredited investors.
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