Access to the world’s most anticipated IPOs is finally opening up | The Courier
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For years, some of the world’s most valuable and influential companies have remained firmly out of reach for all but the largest institutions and family offices.
While public markets grabbed the headlines, the real growth was happening behind closed doors – in late-stage private companies raising capital, scaling globally and delaying IPOs well into maturity.
That dynamic is now beginning to change.
As global markets stabilise and confidence returns, 2026 is increasingly being tipped by bankers and investors as the year of the “Mega IPO” – a period when a backlog of scaled private companies across artificial intelligence, space, fintech and infrastructure are expected to come to market.
What’s different this time is not just the size of the companies preparing to list – it’s who can access them, and when.
Over the past decade, private companies have stayed private for longer, raising billions of dollars outside public markets. As a result, much of the value creation that once occurred after listing has shifted into the private phase.
Historically, wholesale investors were largely excluded from this stage, relying instead on IPO allocations – often small, oversubscribed and priced after years of growth had already occurred.
That model is now being disrupted by the growth of secondary markets and employee share sale tenders, which allow existing shareholders to sell portions of their holdings before an IPO. These liquidity events are becoming more frequent as companies mature, employee bases expand and founders seek to broaden ownership ahead of public listings.
For sophisticated investors, this has opened a new window: the ability to gain exposure to high-quality global businesses before they list, rather than competing for limited stock on day one.
Recent corporate activity has sharpened attention on this trend. The announced merger of SpaceX and xAI is one such example, highlighting how scale, vertical integration and long-term capital are being prioritised ahead of eventual public market debuts.
More broadly, a growing list of globally recognised companies – spanning AI, fintech, data infrastructure, digital banking and software – are widely expected to pursue listings from 2026 onwards. Market estimates suggest several of these businesses could debut at valuations that rival or exceed the largest IPOs of the past decade.
For wholesale investors, the implication is clear: access, timing and structure matter more than ever.
Rather than waiting for IPOs, many sophisticated investors are now focusing on secondary opportunities – particularly employee share sale transactions – to establish exposure earlier in a company’s lifecycle.
These transactions offer several advantages: entry points before public market repricing, exposure alongside long-term insiders, and access to companies that may otherwise be unavailable through traditional investment channels.
However, these opportunities are highly relationship-driven, fragmented and often inaccessible without the right networks, structuring capability and governance frameworks.
This evolving landscape has driven demand for specialist platforms that can bridge the gap between global private markets and Australian wholesale investors.
RiverX Investment Management is one such firm, having recently launched its International Access capability to support clients seeking exposure to late-stage private companies expected to anchor the next wave of global IPOs.
Rather than positioning ourselves as a product distributor, RiverX is operating as a wealth platform focused on access – sourcing opportunities through global networks, structuring participation via established tender processes, and aligning investments within a broader portfolio context.
As RiverX continues to grow as an independent wealth management firm, our focus reflects a broader shift underway across capital markets: wholesale investors are no longer satisfied with being last in the queue.
If 2026 does mark the return of large-scale IPOs, the most significant opportunities may not lie in the listings themselves, but in the years leading up to them.
For wholesale investors willing to look beyond traditional pathways, the reopening of private market access represents a structural change – one that is reshaping how capital is allocated, how portfolios are constructed, and how global growth is accessed.
And as the boundaries between private and public markets continue to blur, the ability to navigate that transition may prove just as valuable as the assets themselves.
Kieran Berry is the founder of River X Investment Management, one of Australia’s fastest-growing independent wealth management firms. Since the firm’s inception in 2023, Kieran has scaled River X to serve over 2,000 clients, overseeing a substantial and rapidly expanding pool of funds under management (FUM). To find out more about RiverX visit riverx.com.au
