Summary
Private markets are entering a new phase of growth. Companies are staying private for longer, investors are increasing their allocations, and demand is rising for better access, greater transparency, and infrastructure that can support confidence at scale. As the boundaries between public and private markets continue to blur, the industry is grappling with a fundamental question: how can investors access opportunities more efficiently while maintaining trust, control and governance?
Debbie Lawrence, Group Head of D&A Data Strategy & Management at LSEG, and Charlie Walker, Deputy CEO of the London Stock Exchange, explore how market structures are evolving and why data, infrastructure and workflows will play an increasingly important role in the future of private markets.
Private markets have experienced extraordinary growth in recent years. What is driving that shift?
Charlie Walker: We're seeing a fundamental change in the way companies access capital. Increasingly, businesses are choosing to stay private longer, reaching greater scale and maturity before considering public markets. In previous decades, many of these companies would have listed earlier in their growth journey. Today, they can raise substantial amounts of capital privately while also creating opportunities for existing shareholders to access liquidity. As a result, the traditional path from private to public markets is becoming less linear. Companies want greater flexibility, investors want broader access, and the market is evolving to support those changing needs. Our focus at the London Stock Exchange, and LSEG more broadly, is on supporting the full funding continuum and creating infrastructure that works for companies at every stage of their journey.
Debbie Lawrence: From a data perspective, private markets are no longer a niche asset class. They have become a significant part of the global investment landscape, creating an entirely new scale of information challenge. With approximately 67,000 listed companies globally, the investable private company universe runs into tens of millions of businesses. Investors need connected intelligence across companies, funds and markets to evaluate opportunities across geographies. The growth of private markets means the data infrastructure supporting those markets must also evolve.
How is LSEG helping investors and issuers navigate this evolving landscape?
Charlie Walker: One of the most significant developments has been the launch of the Private Securities Market (PSM), built under the UK Government's PISCES framework. The objective is simple: create a regulated environment where private companies can offer periodic liquidity opportunities to investors without needing to undertake a full IPO. The model allows companies to remain private while determining when liquidity events take place. By leveraging the London Stock Exchange's existing market infrastructure, settlement capabilities and auction technology, companies can provide structured access to liquidity while maintaining control over how and when their shares trade. Importantly, it also broadens access. Sophisticated investors that may have previously struggled to participate in private company opportunities can access them through familiar market infrastructure and regulated workflows.
Debbie Lawrence: Liquidity and access must be matched by reliable information. When investors are weighing traditional financing or exit options, they need a decision-ready view of the opportunity, its ownership, financial position, transaction history and market context. LSEG connects private company, deal and fund intelligence with filings, macroeconomic indicators, news, identifiers and analytics. Clients can bring these sources together directly within their investment processes. This approach is reflected in the recent launch of Nasdaq eVestment data, supporting LSEG's ambition to become the data marketplace for private markets. Together, this helps investors move more efficiently from discovery to diligence and decision-making.
Transparency is often discussed in private markets. What does transparency really mean in practice?
Debbie Lawrence: Transparency in private markets doesn't mean making everything public. It means providing the right information to the right participants at the right stage of the investment process. Investors are increasingly looking for structured, permissioned transparency rather than simply more documents. They need consistent, decision-ready information, connected through common identifiers and presented in a way that supports analysis and oversight. A major challenge is fragmentation. Information is often dispersed across different sources, formats and jurisdictions. In Europe, reporting requirements may make company data more accessible. In other regions, particularly the US and parts of Asia, disclosure can be more limited or subject to different regulatory requirements. Investors, however, are looking for consistency. At LSEG, our role is to help harmonise and connect those various sources so clients can work with information more effectively and make better informed decisions.
Private markets are often described as fragmented. How significant is that challenge?
Debbie Lawrence: It's probably the single biggest challenge investors face today. Private markets span a wide range of strategies, each with distinct information needs and investment processes. Investors are trying to bring company, fund, transaction and market intelligence into a coherent view. The industry's growth has outpaced the development of consistent standards. Closing that gap requires better-connected information and clearer operating frameworks.
What does the combined LSEG proposition bring to private markets?
Charlie Walker: We want to provide companies with the flexibility to access capital, liquidity and investors throughout their lifecycle, and give financial institutions the information and infrastructure they need to deploy capital with greater clarity. This applies across public and private markets – we’re no longer thinking about them as separate ecosystems. By bringing together innovative market infrastructure through the London Stock Exchange, with our trusted data, analytics and workflow solutions, and our private markets indices as well, LSEG is helping bridge the gap between public and private markets and unlocking new opportunities for issuers and investors alike.
How will AI shape the future of private markets?
Debbie Lawrence: The real opportunity for AI lies in discoverability. The volume of information available to investors is expanding rapidly, and no human can realistically connect every datapoint across such a vast variety of sources. AI has the potential to identify relationships, surface insights and accelerate analysis in ways that were previously impossible. However, AI is only as valuable as the information that powers it. High-quality data, clear lineage and appropriate controls are essential if AI is to surface dependable insights within established decision-making processes.
Looking ahead, what will define the next phase of private markets?
Charlie Walker: Private markets are becoming an increasingly important part of the broader capital markets ecosystem. The next stage will be about continuing to improve access, reduce friction and create infrastructure that enables more efficient participation for both companies and investors.
Debbie Lawrence: The future will be defined by interoperability and workflow-native intelligence. As markets grow, investors will need stronger identifiers, more consistent information and better comparability. The organisations that succeed won't simply be those with access to the most data – they'll be the ones that turn connected information into timely, usable insight. Explore how LSEG's private markets data, analytics and infrastructure can help you discover opportunities, conduct due diligence and deploy capital with greater clarity.
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