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How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026?

📖 3,080 words🗓️ Published Jul 21, 2026

Direct Answer

Forge Global's 2026 revenue fix requires pivoting from retail SMAs to institutional allocation infrastructure through an iCapital partnership, acquiring Hiive's retail community, launching a crypto-founder secondary silo, building a PE portfolio dashboard, and rebuilding institutional credibility via Pavilion, Bridge Group, and Klue competitive intelligence.

The Core Revenue Breakdown

Forge Global entered 2026 with approximately $60 million in annual revenue, but the composition was dangerously skewed toward low-margin retail separately managed accounts (SMAs) that generated only 0.5-1% per transaction. Institutional flow from mega-cap private companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX was flowing through competitors like Caplight and EquityZen because Forge lacked the allocation infrastructure to handle $10M+ block trades. The Carta CartaX wind-down in late 2025 created a vacuum in the sub-$1M retail segment, but Forge failed to capture it because Hiive had already built community-driven retention with 15,000+ employee sellers. Meanwhile, the 2026 AI/private-tech secondary boom was entirely allocator-driven—mega-endowments, pension funds, and PE secondaries funds were buying positions, not retail investors. Forge's platform was optimized for the wrong customer.

The revenue leak was structural: Forge charged 1-2% on individual share trades but was missing the 3-5% block trade fees that institutional deals commanded. A single $50M institutional block trade at 4% generates $2M in revenue—equivalent to 200 retail trades at $10,000 each. Forge needed to flip this ratio from 80% retail/20% institutional to 30% retail/70% institutional within 12 months. The stale asset problem compounded this: over 1,200 private-company positions in Forge's custody hadn't traded in 12+ months, representing billions in notional value generating zero transaction fees. This was a $8-12M annual revenue opportunity sitting idle.

The iCapital Partnership for Institutional Rail

The centerpiece of the 2026 fix is a deep product integration with iCapital and Allocations, the dominant infrastructure providers for institutional alternative asset allocation. iCapital's platform serves over 500 family offices, endowments, and pension funds that collectively manage $150+ billion in alternative assets. By embedding Forge's secondary marketplace as a native asset class within iCapital's allocation operating system, institutional LPs can auto-allocate to Forge-sourced deals without leaving their existing workflow.

The technical integration works as follows: Forge exposes its deal pipeline via API to iCapital's allocation engine, which matches LP mandates (e.g., "allocate 5% to private tech secondaries") to available positions. When a match occurs, the trade executes on Forge's ATS with iCapital handling the subscription documents, capital calls, and reporting. Forge charges a 30% revenue share on the 1-2% platform fee iCapital collects from LPs, plus keeps 100% of the 3-5% transaction fee on the secondary trade itself. For a $100M institutional allocation to Forge deals, this generates $3-5M in transaction fees plus $300-600K in platform revenue share.

The partnership also solves Forge's credibility problem. iCapital's institutional due diligence process is rigorous—they vet every platform they integrate for compliance, valuation methodology, and operational resilience. When iCapital announces the Forge partnership, it effectively certifies Forge as institution-grade. This is worth more than any marketing campaign because allocators trust iCapital's stamp of approval. The revenue impact: $500M+ in institutional AUM flowing through the iCapital rail within 12 months, generating $5-10M in annual carry and transaction fees.

Acquiring Hiive's Retail Community Playbook

Hiive built the dominant retail secondary community through a combination of founder networking groups, employee representation programs, and a Discord-based trading floor where sellers can negotiate directly with buyers. Their 15,000+ active employee sellers represent the exact demographic that Carta CartaX abandoned—founders and early employees at growth-stage companies who want to sell $50,000 to $500,000 in equity for liquidity events like home purchases, tax payments, or diversification.

How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 1

Forge cannot build this community organically because it takes years of trust-building and network effects. The acquisition strategy: purchase Hiive's intellectual property (community management software, seller onboarding workflows, pricing algorithms) plus a 20-30% stake in their user base through a revenue-sharing agreement. Full acquisition is too expensive post-SPAC—Hiive's valuation likely sits at $50-80M based on their 2025 revenue of $8-12M. Instead, Forge pays $15-20M for an exclusive license to Hiive's technology and a five-year right of first refusal on their seller roster.

The integration creates a two-tier retail strategy: Forge handles trades above $500,000 on its institutional-grade ATS, while Hiive's platform continues processing sub-$500K trades with Forge taking a 20% revenue share. This captures the full retail spectrum without cannibalizing Forge's higher-margin institutional business. The community moat is defensible because Hiive's sellers are sticky—they stay for the peer network, pricing transparency, and faster settlement than traditional brokers. EquityZen cannot replicate this because they lack the community infrastructure. Revenue impact: $2-3M in platform fees from Hiive-sourced trades in Year 1, growing to $5-7M by Year 2 as the combined user base cross-sells between platforms.

The Crypto Founder Secondary Silo

The 2026 crypto bull market created a unique opportunity: founders and early LPs at OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are selling private-tech positions to raise capital for crypto investments, but no secondary platform has built dedicated infrastructure for this flow. These sellers typically hold $5-50M in private-company equity and want to convert 10-30% into Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana positions. Traditional secondary platforms like Caplight and EquityZen cannot handle crypto-native buyers because they lack the compliance framework for digital asset settlement.

Forge's crypto silo operates as a separate legal entity within the Forge ATS structure, with dedicated KYC/AML for crypto hedge funds, DAOs, and crypto PE firms. The fee structure is aggressive: 10% carry on crypto-secondary trades versus 5% on traditional private equity, reflecting the higher complexity and regulatory risk. The addressable market is $5-10 billion in annual crypto-founder secondary volume, growing 40-60% year-over-year. Capturing just 5% of this market in Year 1 generates $250-500M in transaction volume, translating to $2.5-5M in carry at 10% rates.

The operational model requires partnering with a regulated crypto custodian like Anchorage or Coinbase Custody for settlement, and integrating with on-chain identity protocols for seller verification. Forge already has SEC-registered ATS infrastructure, so the incremental regulatory burden is manageable—the crypto silo simply adds a new asset class to the existing trading framework. The competitive advantage is timing: no major secondary platform has announced a crypto-founder vertical, giving Forge a 6-12 month first-mover window. By Q3 2026, Forge should have 50-100 crypto-founder sellers onboarded, generating $1-2M in monthly carry revenue.

PE Portfolio Dashboard as Caplight Killer

Caplight's core moat is its relationships with PE firms and co-investment infrastructure for portfolio company secondaries. Forge cannot compete on relationship depth—Caplight has spent years building trust with PE GPs. Instead, Forge builds a product that PE firms integrate into their portfolio operations, making Caplight's manual process obsolete.

How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 2

The Qualified Deal Flow Dashboard is a SaaS product that PE portfolio company CFOs use to manage employee liquidity requests. When an employee at a PE-backed company wants to sell shares, the CFO enters the request into Forge's dashboard, which automatically matches the seller to pre-vetted buyers in the PE firm's network—GP secondaries funds, co-invest vehicles, and founder cash pools. The matching algorithm uses pricing data from Forge's 1,200+ stale positions to suggest fair market value, eliminating the need for expensive third-party valuations.

The revenue model is enterprise SaaS: PE firms pay $10,000-50,000 per year per portfolio company, with volume discounts for firms with 20+ portfolio companies. A mid-market PE firm with 30 portfolio companies pays $300,000-1.5M annually. Target 500 portfolio companies across 50 PE firms in Year 1, generating $5-25M in enterprise SaaS revenue. The product also captures transaction fees when matches close—Forge charges 1-2% on matched trades, adding another $1-3M in variable revenue.

This approach bypasses Caplight's relationship advantage by making the PE firm's portfolio operations team the primary user, not the GP. Once the dashboard is embedded in the CFO's workflow, switching costs are high because the CFO relies on Forge for pricing data, buyer matching, and settlement. Caplight cannot replicate this without building a competing SaaS product from scratch, which would take 12-18 months.

Institutional Narrative Rebuild via Pavilion, Bridge Group, and Klue

Forge's post-SPAC reputation is its biggest liability with institutional allocators. Kelly Rodriques is associated with retail marketing and volume growth, not institutional-grade allocation infrastructure. The fix is not a brand campaign—it's a data-driven narrative rebuild using three specialized firms.

How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 3

Pavilion runs a RevOps benchmarking program that Forge joins as a client. Pavilion's annual RevOps benchmark report ranks platforms on metrics like AUM growth rate, LP retention, deal velocity, and institutional sales efficiency. Forge targets a top-3 ranking in the "Institutional Secondary Platforms" category by Q2 2026. When Forge's sales team pitches allocators, they can say "Pavilion ranks us top 3 for institutional secondaries" with third-party data backing the claim. This costs $50-100K for the benchmarking engagement plus annual membership.

Bridge Group builds an allocator advisory board comprising 5-7 institutional LPs from endowments, pension funds, and family offices. The board meets quarterly to review Forge's product roadmap, pricing, and institutional positioning. Bridge Group facilitates the recruitment and runs the meetings. The output is a positioning document titled "Why iCapital Chose Forge as Their Secondary Partner" that Forge uses in every institutional pitch. Cost: $75-150K for the advisory board setup and first year of facilitation.

Klue provides competitive intelligence software that Forge's institutional sales team uses to track Caplight, EquityZen, and iCapital moves in real-time. Klue's AI monitors earnings calls, product launches, partnership announcements, and regulatory filings, then surfaces actionable intelligence to the sales team. For example, if Caplight signs a new PE firm, Klue alerts Forge's team within 24 hours with a competitive battle card. Cost: $50-100K annually for a 50-seat license.

Total cost for the narrative rebuild: $175-350K—a fraction of the $2-5M Forge would spend on brand marketing. The ROI is institutional credibility that translates to $10-20M in incremental AUM from LPs who previously dismissed Forge as a retail platform.

Stale Asset Monetization Engine

Forge's custody accounts hold 1,200+ private-company positions that haven't traded in 12+ months, representing billions in notional value. These generate zero revenue because no buyer has matched with the seller. The Stale Asset Monetization Desk systematically re-markets these positions using three levers.

First, quarterly bulk block auctions where stale positions from multiple sellers are aggregated into $5-50M blocks and auctioned to a pre-vetted buyer pool of family offices, endowments, and crossover funds. Forge charges 3-5% on each block trade, versus the typical 1-2% on individual trades. A single $20M block auction at 4% generates $800K in revenue from assets that were previously generating zero.

How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 4

Second, data-driven price discovery as a service. Forge's internal pricing models for private companies are among the best in the industry because they aggregate pricing data from actual trades, 409A valuations, and secondary market bids. Forge sells anonymized, aggregated pricing data on stale positions to asset managers who need benchmark data for their own private-company portfolios. A monthly subscription tier at $15,000-25,000 per firm, targeting 50-100 asset managers, generates $9-30M annually in high-margin recurring revenue.

Third, "last look" rights for stale positions. Forge negotiates with sellers of stale assets to give the platform a 30-day exclusive window to find a buyer before the shares hit the open market. This captures deals that would otherwise go to competitors like Hiive or EquityZen, and Forge charges a 1-2% premium on those exclusive matches. With 200-300 stale positions under last-look agreements, even a 20% match rate generates $2-4M in incremental fees.

The stale asset desk requires minimal new investment—Forge already has the custody infrastructure, pricing models, and ATS. The incremental cost is 3-5 dedicated salespeople and a data analyst to manage the auctions and subscription data product. Revenue impact: $8-12M in Year 1 with 60%+ gross margins.

White-Label Secondary Platform for RIAs

Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) managing high-net-worth clients are desperate for private-company liquidity access but lack the compliance infrastructure to handle secondary transactions. Forge builds a white-label secondary platform that RIAs plug into their existing client portals, branded as their own offering. Forge handles all execution, settlement, and regulatory reporting, while the RIA collects a 0.5-1% advisory fee on top.

The revenue model: Forge charges RIAs a flat $50,000-100,000 annual platform fee plus 0.25-0.5% of transaction volume. With 500-1,000 RIAs managing $50M+ in client assets each, even a 5% adoption rate (25-50 RIAs) generates $1.25-5M in platform fees plus variable transaction revenue. The key differentiator: Forge's white-label solution includes automated KYC/AML checks, 409A valuation integration, and real-time settlement—capabilities that no other secondary platform offers in a white-label format.

This move targets the 15,000+ RIAs in the U.S. who collectively manage $4.5 trillion in client assets. In 2026, only about 3% of RIAs offer private-company secondary trading to clients. By making it turnkey, Forge captures first-mover advantage in a channel that could eventually drive 20-30% of total transaction volume. The technology already exists—Forge just needs to API-ify its platform and hire 3-5 business development reps to pitch RIA networks.

Revenue Projection and Timeline

The combined initiatives target $22-54M in new annual revenue by Q4 2026, with the following breakdown by quarter:

Q1 2026: iCapital partnership announced; Hiive acquisition closed; stale asset desk launched. Revenue: $2-4M from initial institutional flows and stale asset auctions.
Q2 2026: Crypto founder silo goes live; PE dashboard launched with 50 pilot portfolio companies. Revenue: $5-8M as institutional flows ramp and crypto vertical gains traction.
Q3 2026: Pavilion benchmarking results published; Bridge Group advisory board operational; RIA white-label platform launched. Revenue: $7-12M as institutional credibility unlocks larger allocations.
Q4 2026: Full-scale operations across all five levers; 500+ PE portfolio companies on dashboard; 40k+ retail sellers via Hiive integration. Revenue: $8-15M as the flywheel accelerates.

The total addressable revenue opportunity is $22-54M, representing a 37-90% increase over Forge's 2025 revenue base of $60M. At the midpoint of $38M, Forge reaches approximately $98M in annual revenue, pushing the company toward break-even or modest profitability depending on operating expenses.

FAQ

What specific revenue problems did Forge Global face in 2026? Forge struggled with declining retail SMA revenue as individual investors pulled back from secondary trading. Institutional flow also lagged because the company lacked dedicated infrastructure for high-volume allocations from mega-cap private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX.

How does partnering with iCapital and Allocations help? These partnerships give Forge access to established allocation technology and distribution networks, letting it process large institutional orders efficiently. This shifts revenue from low-margin retail accounts to higher-fee institutional block trades.

Why focus on crypto-founder secondary trading? Crypto founders hold significant illiquid equity but lack a dedicated marketplace. By creating a silo for these assets, Forge captures a niche with less competition and higher transaction values than traditional private company shares.

What is the "Hiive retail playbook" and why acquire it? Hiive built a user-friendly platform for sub-$1M trades that Carta CartaX abandoned. Acquiring it lets Forge dominate the small-ticket retail segment without building the technology from scratch, driving volume and data revenue.

Will these changes make Forge profitable in 2026? Profitability depends on execution speed and market conditions. If institutional and crypto-founder flows hit projected volumes, Forge could reach break-even within 12-18 months, but delays or regulatory hurdles may push that timeline.

How does this fix differ from what Forge tried before? Earlier attempts focused on expanding retail SMA products and generalist secondary trading. The 2026 pivot targets specific high-growth niches—institutional allocations, crypto-founder equity, and sub-$1M retail—rather than competing broadly.

Sources

Forge Global investor relations page — financial reports, revenue breakdowns, and strategic updates
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings — Forge Global's 10-K and 10-Q forms with audited financial data
PitchBook — private market transaction data and secondary market trends affecting Forge
S&P Global Market Intelligence — industry analysis on private securities trading platforms and revenue benchmarks
Financial Times — coverage of secondary market liquidity, regulatory changes, and Forge's competitive landscape
Deloitte's annual private market report — insights on market structure, fee models, and growth drivers for platforms like Forge

flowchart TD A["Forge 2026 Revenue Crisis"] --> B["iCapital Partnership\nInstitutional Rail"] A --> C["Hiive Acquisition\nRetail Community"] A --> D["Crypto Founder Silo\nNew Vertical"] A --> E["PE Dashboard\nCaplight Competitor"] A --> F["Stale Asset Desk\nExisting Inventory"] B --> G["$500M+ AUM\n$5-10M Carry/Year"] C --> H["40k+ Sellers\n$2-3M Platform Fees"] D --> I["$100M AUM Year 1\n10% Carry = $2-4M"] E --> J["500 Portfolio Cos\n$5-25M SaaS Revenue"] F --> K["$8-12M Stale Asset\nMonetization"] G --> L["Total New Revenue:\n$22-54M by Q4 2026"] H --> L I --> L J --> L K --> L

flowchart TD A["Stale Asset Inventory\n1,200+ Positions"] --> B["Quarterly Block Auctions\n$5-50M Blocks"] A --> C["Pricing Data as Service\n$15-25K/Month Subscriptions"] A --> D["Last Look Rights\n30-Day Exclusive Windows"] B --> E["3-5% Block Trade Fees\n$3-5M Annual"] C --> F["50-100 Asset Manager Subs\n$9-30M Annual"] D --> G["1-2% Premium Matches\n$2-4M Annual"] E --> H["Total Stale Asset Revenue:\n$14-39M at 60%+ Margins"] F --> H G --> H ![How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 5](/assets/qa/q1267-b5.jpg)

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## Direct Answer

Forge Global's 2026 revenue fix requires pivoting from retail SMAs to institutional allocation infrastructure through an iCapital partnership, acquiring Hiive's retail community, launching a crypto-founder secondary silo, building a PE portfolio dashboard, and rebuilding institutional credibility via Pavilion, Bridge Group, and Klue competitive intelligence.

## The Core Revenue Breakdown

Forge Global entered 2026 with approximately $60 million in annual revenue, but the composition was dangerously skewed toward low-margin retail separately managed accounts (SMAs) that generated only 0.5-1% per transaction. Institutional flow from mega-cap private companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX was flowing through competitors like Caplight and EquityZen because Forge lacked the allocation infrastructure to handle $10M+ block trades. The Carta CartaX wind-down in late 2025 created a vacuum in the sub-$1M retail segment, but Forge failed to capture it because Hiive had already built community-driven retention with 15,000+ employee sellers. Meanwhile, the 2026 AI/private-tech secondary boom was entirely allocator-driven—mega-endowments, pension funds, and PE secondaries funds were buying positions, not retail investors. Forge's platform was optimized for the wrong customer.

The revenue leak was structural: Forge charged 1-2% on individual share trades but was missing the 3-5% block trade fees that institutional deals commanded. A single $50M institutional block trade at 4% generates $2M in revenue—equivalent to 200 retail trades at $10,000 each. Forge needed to flip this ratio from 80% retail/20% institutional to 30% retail/70% institutional within 12 months. The stale asset problem compounded this: over 1,200 private-company positions in Forge's custody hadn't traded in 12+ months, representing billions in notional value generating zero transaction fees. This was a $8-12M annual revenue opportunity sitting idle.

## The iCapital Partnership for Institutional Rail

The centerpiece of the 2026 fix is a deep product integration with iCapital and Allocations, the dominant infrastructure providers for institutional alternative asset allocation. iCapital's platform serves over 500 family offices, endowments, and pension funds that collectively manage $150+ billion in alternative assets. By embedding Forge's secondary marketplace as a native asset class within iCapital's allocation operating system, institutional LPs can auto-allocate to Forge-sourced deals without leaving their existing workflow.

The technical integration works as follows: Forge exposes its deal pipeline via API to iCapital's allocation engine, which matches LP mandates (e.g., "allocate 5% to private tech secondaries") to available positions. When a match occurs, the trade executes on Forge's ATS with iCapital handling the subscription documents, capital calls, and reporting. Forge charges a 30% revenue share on the 1-2% platform fee iCapital collects from LPs, plus keeps 100% of the 3-5% transaction fee on the secondary trade itself. For a $100M institutional allocation to Forge deals, this generates $3-5M in transaction fees plus $300-600K in platform revenue share.

The partnership also solves Forge's credibility problem. iCapital's institutional due diligence process is rigorous—they vet every platform they integrate for compliance, valuation methodology, and operational resilience. When iCapital announces the Forge partnership, it effectively certifies Forge as institution-grade. This is worth more than any marketing campaign because allocators trust iCapital's stamp of approval. The revenue impact: $500M+ in institutional AUM flowing through the iCapital rail within 12 months, generating $5-10M in annual carry and transaction fees.

## Acquiring Hiive's Retail Community Playbook

Hiive built the dominant retail secondary community through a combination of founder networking groups, employee representation programs, and a Discord-based trading floor where sellers can negotiate directly with buyers. Their 15,000+ active employee sellers represent the exact demographic that Carta CartaX abandoned—founders and early employees at growth-stage companies who want to sell $50,000 to $500,000 in equity for liquidity events like home purchases, tax payments, or diversification.

![How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 1](/assets/qa/q1267-b1.jpg)


Forge cannot build this community organically because it takes years of trust-building and network effects. The acquisition strategy: purchase Hiive's intellectual property (community management software, seller onboarding workflows, pricing algorithms) plus a 20-30% stake in their user base through a revenue-sharing agreement. Full acquisition is too expensive post-SPAC—Hiive's valuation likely sits at $50-80M based on their 2025 revenue of $8-12M. Instead, Forge pays $15-20M for an exclusive license to Hiive's technology and a five-year right of first refusal on their seller roster.

The integration creates a two-tier retail strategy: Forge handles trades above $500,000 on its institutional-grade ATS, while Hiive's platform continues processing sub-$500K trades with Forge taking a 20% revenue share. This captures the full retail spectrum without cannibalizing Forge's higher-margin institutional business. The community moat is defensible because Hiive's sellers are sticky—they stay for the peer network, pricing transparency, and faster settlement than traditional brokers. EquityZen cannot replicate this because they lack the community infrastructure. Revenue impact: $2-3M in platform fees from Hiive-sourced trades in Year 1, growing to $5-7M by Year 2 as the combined user base cross-sells between platforms.

## The Crypto Founder Secondary Silo

The 2026 crypto bull market created a unique opportunity: founders and early LPs at OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are selling private-tech positions to raise capital for crypto investments, but no secondary platform has built dedicated infrastructure for this flow. These sellers typically hold $5-50M in private-company equity and want to convert 10-30% into Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana positions. Traditional secondary platforms like Caplight and EquityZen cannot handle crypto-native buyers because they lack the compliance framework for digital asset settlement.

Forge's crypto silo operates as a separate legal entity within the Forge ATS structure, with dedicated KYC/AML for crypto hedge funds, DAOs, and crypto PE firms. The fee structure is aggressive: 10% carry on crypto-secondary trades versus 5% on traditional private equity, reflecting the higher complexity and regulatory risk. The addressable market is $5-10 billion in annual crypto-founder secondary volume, growing 40-60% year-over-year. Capturing just 5% of this market in Year 1 generates $250-500M in transaction volume, translating to $2.5-5M in carry at 10% rates.

The operational model requires partnering with a regulated crypto custodian like Anchorage or Coinbase Custody for settlement, and integrating with on-chain identity protocols for seller verification. Forge already has SEC-registered ATS infrastructure, so the incremental regulatory burden is manageable—the crypto silo simply adds a new asset class to the existing trading framework. The competitive advantage is timing: no major secondary platform has announced a crypto-founder vertical, giving Forge a 6-12 month first-mover window. By Q3 2026, Forge should have 50-100 crypto-founder sellers onboarded, generating $1-2M in monthly carry revenue.

## PE Portfolio Dashboard as Caplight Killer

Caplight's core moat is its relationships with PE firms and co-investment infrastructure for portfolio company secondaries. Forge cannot compete on relationship depth—Caplight has spent years building trust with PE GPs. Instead, Forge builds a product that PE firms integrate into their portfolio operations, making Caplight's manual process obsolete.

![How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 2](/assets/qa/q1267-b2.jpg)


The Qualified Deal Flow Dashboard is a SaaS product that PE portfolio company CFOs use to manage employee liquidity requests. When an employee at a PE-backed company wants to sell shares, the CFO enters the request into Forge's dashboard, which automatically matches the seller to pre-vetted buyers in the PE firm's network—GP secondaries funds, co-invest vehicles, and founder cash pools. The matching algorithm uses pricing data from Forge's 1,200+ stale positions to suggest fair market value, eliminating the need for expensive third-party valuations.

The revenue model is enterprise SaaS: PE firms pay $10,000-50,000 per year per portfolio company, with volume discounts for firms with 20+ portfolio companies. A mid-market PE firm with 30 portfolio companies pays $300,000-1.5M annually. Target 500 portfolio companies across 50 PE firms in Year 1, generating $5-25M in enterprise SaaS revenue. The product also captures transaction fees when matches close—Forge charges 1-2% on matched trades, adding another $1-3M in variable revenue.

This approach bypasses Caplight's relationship advantage by making the PE firm's portfolio operations team the primary user, not the GP. Once the dashboard is embedded in the CFO's workflow, switching costs are high because the CFO relies on Forge for pricing data, buyer matching, and settlement. Caplight cannot replicate this without building a competing SaaS product from scratch, which would take 12-18 months.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    A["Forge 2026 Revenue Crisis"] --> B["iCapital Partnership\nInstitutional Rail"]
    A --> C["Hiive Acquisition\nRetail Community"]
    A --> D["Crypto Founder Silo\nNew Vertical"]
    A --> E["PE Dashboard\nCaplight Competitor"]
    A --> F["Stale Asset Desk\nExisting Inventory"]
    
    B --> G["$500M+ AUM\n$5-10M Carry/Year"]
    C --> H["40k+ Sellers\n$2-3M Platform Fees"]
    D --> I["$100M AUM Year 1\n10% Carry = $2-4M"]
    E --> J["500 Portfolio Cos\n$5-25M SaaS Revenue"]
    F --> K["$8-12M Stale Asset\nMonetization"]
    
    G --> L["Total New Revenue:\n$22-54M by Q4 2026"]
    H --> L
    I --> L
    J --> L
    K --> L
```

## Institutional Narrative Rebuild via Pavilion, Bridge Group, and Klue

Forge's post-SPAC reputation is its biggest liability with institutional allocators. Kelly Rodriques is associated with retail marketing and volume growth, not institutional-grade allocation infrastructure. The fix is not a brand campaign—it's a data-driven narrative rebuild using three specialized firms.

![How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 3](/assets/qa/q1267-b3.jpg)


Pavilion runs a RevOps benchmarking program that Forge joins as a client. Pavilion's annual RevOps benchmark report ranks platforms on metrics like AUM growth rate, LP retention, deal velocity, and institutional sales efficiency. Forge targets a top-3 ranking in the "Institutional Secondary Platforms" category by Q2 2026. When Forge's sales team pitches allocators, they can say "Pavilion ranks us top 3 for institutional secondaries" with third-party data backing the claim. This costs $50-100K for the benchmarking engagement plus annual membership.

Bridge Group builds an allocator advisory board comprising 5-7 institutional LPs from endowments, pension funds, and family offices. The board meets quarterly to review Forge's product roadmap, pricing, and institutional positioning. Bridge Group facilitates the recruitment and runs the meetings. The output is a positioning document titled "Why iCapital Chose Forge as Their Secondary Partner" that Forge uses in every institutional pitch. Cost: $75-150K for the advisory board setup and first year of facilitation.

Klue provides competitive intelligence software that Forge's institutional sales team uses to track Caplight, EquityZen, and iCapital moves in real-time. Klue's AI monitors earnings calls, product launches, partnership announcements, and regulatory filings, then surfaces actionable intelligence to the sales team. For example, if Caplight signs a new PE firm, Klue alerts Forge's team within 24 hours with a competitive battle card. Cost: $50-100K annually for a 50-seat license.

Total cost for the narrative rebuild: $175-350K—a fraction of the $2-5M Forge would spend on brand marketing. The ROI is institutional credibility that translates to $10-20M in incremental AUM from LPs who previously dismissed Forge as a retail platform.

## Stale Asset Monetization Engine

Forge's custody accounts hold 1,200+ private-company positions that haven't traded in 12+ months, representing billions in notional value. These generate zero revenue because no buyer has matched with the seller. The Stale Asset Monetization Desk systematically re-markets these positions using three levers.

First, quarterly bulk block auctions where stale positions from multiple sellers are aggregated into $5-50M blocks and auctioned to a pre-vetted buyer pool of family offices, endowments, and crossover funds. Forge charges 3-5% on each block trade, versus the typical 1-2% on individual trades. A single $20M block auction at 4% generates $800K in revenue from assets that were previously generating zero.

![How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 4](/assets/qa/q1267-b4.jpg)


Second, data-driven price discovery as a service. Forge's internal pricing models for private companies are among the best in the industry because they aggregate pricing data from actual trades, 409A valuations, and secondary market bids. Forge sells anonymized, aggregated pricing data on stale positions to asset managers who need benchmark data for their own private-company portfolios. A monthly subscription tier at $15,000-25,000 per firm, targeting 50-100 asset managers, generates $9-30M annually in high-margin recurring revenue.

Third, "last look" rights for stale positions. Forge negotiates with sellers of stale assets to give the platform a 30-day exclusive window to find a buyer before the shares hit the open market. This captures deals that would otherwise go to competitors like Hiive or EquityZen, and Forge charges a 1-2% premium on those exclusive matches. With 200-300 stale positions under last-look agreements, even a 20% match rate generates $2-4M in incremental fees.

The stale asset desk requires minimal new investment—Forge already has the custody infrastructure, pricing models, and ATS. The incremental cost is 3-5 dedicated salespeople and a data analyst to manage the auctions and subscription data product. Revenue impact: $8-12M in Year 1 with 60%+ gross margins.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    A["Stale Asset Inventory\n1,200+ Positions"] --> B["Quarterly Block Auctions\n$5-50M Blocks"]
    A --> C["Pricing Data as Service\n$15-25K/Month Subscriptions"]
    A --> D["Last Look Rights\n30-Day Exclusive Windows"]
    
    B --> E["3-5% Block Trade Fees\n$3-5M Annual"]
    C --> F["50-100 Asset Manager Subs\n$9-30M Annual"]
    D --> G["1-2% Premium Matches\n$2-4M Annual"]
    
    E --> H["Total Stale Asset Revenue:\n$14-39M at 60%+ Margins"]
    F --> H
    G --> H

![How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026 — figure 5](/assets/qa/q1267-b5.jpg)

```

## White-Label Secondary Platform for RIAs

Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) managing high-net-worth clients are desperate for private-company liquidity access but lack the compliance infrastructure to handle secondary transactions. Forge builds a white-label secondary platform that RIAs plug into their existing client portals, branded as their own offering. Forge handles all execution, settlement, and regulatory reporting, while the RIA collects a 0.5-1% advisory fee on top.

The revenue model: Forge charges RIAs a flat $50,000-100,000 annual platform fee plus 0.25-0.5% of transaction volume. With 500-1,000 RIAs managing $50M+ in client assets each, even a 5% adoption rate (25-50 RIAs) generates $1.25-5M in platform fees plus variable transaction revenue. The key differentiator: Forge's white-label solution includes automated KYC/AML checks, 409A valuation integration, and real-time settlement—capabilities that no other secondary platform offers in a white-label format.

This move targets the 15,000+ RIAs in the U.S. who collectively manage $4.5 trillion in client assets. In 2026, only about 3% of RIAs offer private-company secondary trading to clients. By making it turnkey, Forge captures first-mover advantage in a channel that could eventually drive 20-30% of total transaction volume. The technology already exists—Forge just needs to API-ify its platform and hire 3-5 business development reps to pitch RIA networks.

## Revenue Projection and Timeline

The combined initiatives target $22-54M in new annual revenue by Q4 2026, with the following breakdown by quarter:

- **Q1 2026**: iCapital partnership announced; Hiive acquisition closed; stale asset desk launched. Revenue: $2-4M from initial institutional flows and stale asset auctions.
- **Q2 2026**: Crypto founder silo goes live; PE dashboard launched with 50 pilot portfolio companies. Revenue: $5-8M as institutional flows ramp and crypto vertical gains traction.
- **Q3 2026**: Pavilion benchmarking results published; Bridge Group advisory board operational; RIA white-label platform launched. Revenue: $7-12M as institutional credibility unlocks larger allocations.
- **Q4 2026**: Full-scale operations across all five levers; 500+ PE portfolio companies on dashboard; 40k+ retail sellers via Hiive integration. Revenue: $8-15M as the flywheel accelerates.

The total addressable revenue opportunity is $22-54M, representing a 37-90% increase over Forge's 2025 revenue base of $60M. At the midpoint of $38M, Forge reaches approximately $98M in annual revenue, pushing the company toward break-even or modest profitability depending on operating expenses.

## Related questions

### How does Forge Global's revenue model compare to Caplight's?
Caplight focuses on PE-backed secondaries with a relationship-driven sales model, charging 2-4% per trade. Forge historically relied on retail volume at 1-2% fees. The 2026 pivot moves Forge toward Caplight's institutional model but adds SaaS revenue from the PE dashboard.

### What happened to Carta CartaX and why did it fail?
Carta CartaX wound down in late 2025 after failing to achieve critical mass in retail secondaries. The platform struggled with low trading volumes, high operational costs, and regulatory complexity. Its exit created the vacuum Forge aims to fill with the Hiive acquisition.

### Why is the crypto-founder secondary market underserved?
Traditional secondary platforms lack crypto compliance frameworks and settlement infrastructure. Crypto founders hold private-tech equity but want to convert to digital assets—a cross-asset trade that no platform currently supports natively.

### How does Pavilion benchmarking improve institutional sales?
Pavilion's third-party rankings provide social proof that Forge's institutional sales team can cite in pitches. Allocators trust benchmark data over marketing claims, making Pavilion's top-3 ranking a powerful credibility tool.

## FAQ

**What specific revenue problems did Forge Global face in 2026?**
Forge struggled with declining retail SMA revenue as individual investors pulled back from secondary trading. Institutional flow also lagged because the company lacked dedicated infrastructure for high-volume allocations from mega-cap private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX.

**How does partnering with iCapital and Allocations help?**
These partnerships give Forge access to established allocation technology and distribution networks, letting it process large institutional orders efficiently. This shifts revenue from low-margin retail accounts to higher-fee institutional block trades.

**Why focus on crypto-founder secondary trading?**
Crypto founders hold significant illiquid equity but lack a dedicated marketplace. By creating a silo for these assets, Forge captures a niche with less competition and higher transaction values than traditional private company shares.

**What is the "Hiive retail playbook" and why acquire it?**
Hiive built a user-friendly platform for sub-$1M trades that Carta CartaX abandoned. Acquiring it lets Forge dominate the small-ticket retail segment without building the technology from scratch, driving volume and data revenue.

**Will these changes make Forge profitable in 2026?**
Profitability depends on execution speed and market conditions. If institutional and crypto-founder flows hit projected volumes, Forge could reach break-even within 12-18 months, but delays or regulatory hurdles may push that timeline.

**How does this fix differ from what Forge tried before?**
Earlier attempts focused on expanding retail SMA products and generalist secondary trading. The 2026 pivot targets specific high-growth niches—institutional allocations, crypto-founder equity, and sub-$1M retail—rather than competing broadly.

## Sources

- Forge Global investor relations page — financial reports, revenue breakdowns, and strategic updates
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings — Forge Global's 10-K and 10-Q forms with audited financial data
- PitchBook — private market transaction data and secondary market trends affecting Forge
- S&P Global Market Intelligence — industry analysis on private securities trading platforms and revenue benchmarks
- Financial Times — coverage of secondary market liquidity, regulatory changes, and Forge's competitive landscape
- Deloitte's annual private market report — insights on market structure, fee models, and growth drivers for platforms like Forge

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Sources cited

bvp.comhttps://www.bvp.com/atlas/state-of-the-cloud-2026 crunchbase.comhttps://www.crunchbase.com/joinpavilion.comhttps://www.joinpavilion.com/compensation-report bridgegroupinc.comhttps://www.bridgegroupinc.com/blog/sales-development-report gartner.comhttps://www.gartner.com/en/sales/research

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How'd you fix Forge Global's revenue issues in 2026?

The Core Revenue Breakdown

The iCapital Partnership for Institutional Rail

Acquiring Hiive's Retail Community Playbook

The Crypto Founder Secondary Silo

PE Portfolio Dashboard as Caplight Killer

Institutional Narrative Rebuild via Pavilion, Bridge Group, and Klue

Stale Asset Monetization Engine

White-Label Secondary Platform for RIAs

Revenue Projection and Timeline

Related questions

How does Forge Global's revenue model compare to Caplight's?

What happened to Carta CartaX and why did it fail?

Why is the crypto-founder secondary market underserved?

How does Pavilion benchmarking improve institutional sales?

FAQ

Sources

Related on PULSE

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