Why Is Wall Street Racing Into Private Markets?

JPMorgan Chase just formed a new advisory team dedicated exclusively to helping companies raise private capital, and if you’re wondering why one of Wall Street’s most sophisticated institutions is making this move right now, you’re asking exactly the right question. The answer points to where the entire financial services industry is heading.

JPMorgan’s move follows a pattern that’s been building across the industry for the past two years. Goldman Sachs has dedicated private capital and private credit advisory units. Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Securities are deepening their private market capabilities. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank are building alternative asset platforms. Barclays and AGL Credit Management launched a private credit investment vehicle with multi-billion-dollar commitments. Even boutique firms like Evercore, Probitas Partners, and Eaton Partners have made private market advisory central to their value propositions.

Recent private markets news reveals an industry in the middle of a dramatic transformation. This month alone, we saw Warburg Pincus close a $3 billion financial services fund, New Mountain Capital close a $1.2 billion strategic equity fund above target, Ares Management close $7.1 billion for its inaugural credit secondaries fund, and Lindsay Goldberg close its oversubscribed $4.9 billion Fund VI.

Secondary markets in particular are exploding. In 2025, a record $226 billion in private asset secondary deals was reached, providing liquidity for investors and creating opportunities for secondary buyers to acquire portfolios at attractive valuations.

These developments may seem like unrelated movements, even coincidences. But once you see the pattern, what they reveal is an important shift in how capital currently flows through the global economy.

What Are Private Markets and Why Do They Matter Now?

Private markets refer to investments in companies and assets that aren’t publicly traded on exchanges. This includes private equity, venture capital, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and other alternative investments. For decades, these were niche asset classes dominated by specialized firms serving institutional investors and ultra-wealthy clients.

Not anymore. According to BlackRock, private markets are estimated to be worth nearly $20 trillion today, a dramatic increase from a decade ago. Private equity alone topped $1.3 trillion in the first three quarters of 2025. Private credit markets grew from $250 billion in 2007 to $2.5 trillion today, creating massive new opportunities for investors amid rising demand.

The numbers behind JPMorgan’s commitment are staggering. The bank set aside over $10 billion for direct lending in 2024, then earmarked another $50 billion for private credit efforts in early 2025. According to Moody’s, US banks had lent nearly $300 billion to private credit providers as of June 2025, with JPMorgan among the five largest lenders at $22.2 billion in exposure.

The expansion of Wall Street into private markets represents more than exploratory investments. These are strategic bets on where the industry is moving. As companies stay private longer, as investors demand alternative investment access, and as private credit displaces traditional bank lending, opportunities may spring forth.

What’s Driving Private Markets Expansion?

Five major forces are driving Wall Street’s private markets expansion, and they’re not slowing down anytime soon.

Companies are staying private longer than ever – Databricks, SpaceX, and OpenAI are raising billions in private markets instead of pursuing traditional IPOs. This approach lets companies access the capital they need, enables employees to cash out stock options through secondary sales, and avoids the regulatory burdens and quarterly earnings pressure that come with being public.
The “middle” of private markets is booming – Banks are capturing opportunities beyond IPOs and M&A. Companies need capital for growth, employees seek liquidity, early investors look for exits, and new investors want access to high-growth opportunities.
Investor demand for alternatives is rising – Institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals are increasingly allocating to private markets for portfolio diversification, lower correlation with public markets, and the potential for superior long-term returns.
The investor base is expanding – Retail investors, 401k plans, and pension funds are gaining access to private market opportunities, supported by regulatory changes and increased commitments to domestic businesses and infrastructure.
Private markets are becoming a structural part of global finance – JPMorgan notes the depth and diversity of these markets and the immense opportunity for investors as companies remain private longer and growth occurs outside public markets.
Banks and wealth managers are responding to client demand – Firms including JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are expanding private market programs and alternative investment offerings to stay relevant and capture this fast-growing segment.

Where Are the Next Private Market Opportunities?

The expansion into private markets is all about positioning for where value creation is happening in the economy. JPMorgan’s 2026 Alternatives Outlook highlighted several themes that make this clear.

AI investment is accelerating and driving unprecedented capital expenditure cycles. Companies building AI infrastructure, developing AI applications, or integrating AI capabilities are raising massive amounts of private capital. Many of these businesses won’t go public for years, if ever, meaning investors need private market access to participate in AI growth.

Commercial real estate is entering a new recovery phase supported by prospective rate cuts and continued economic expansion. Nationalism is increasing demand for high-powered industrial space, with power availability now a central factor in site selection for data centers and manufacturing facilities. These dynamics create opportunities in private real estate funds and direct investments.

Core infrastructure is at an inflection point, with capital expenditure set to materially outpace depreciation for the first time this century. Surging energy demand from AI, data centers, and electrification is driving growth and higher returns for core infrastructure investments, especially power utilities and renewable energy projects.

Private credit continues expanding as an alternative to traditional bank lending, offering attractive yields for investors and flexible capital for borrowers. As banks face regulatory constraints limiting their balance sheet lending, private credit providers are filling the gap across middle market companies, real estate, infrastructure, and specialized lending niches.

How Can Banks Win in Private Markets with AI?

For investment banks, wealth managers, and advisory firms, expanding private markets capabilities requires more than just hiring bankers and launching products. You need data-driven intelligence because traditional methods of sourcing private market opportunities are too slow and incomplete.

This is where AI-powered deal sourcing platforms create measurable competitive advantages. Platforms like Cyndx provide actionable intelligence, enabling banks, advisors, and sponsors to source deals faster, approach the right investors, and optimize fundraising strategy.

Finder helps identify companies that match specific investment criteria, whether you’re looking for businesses in particular sectors, revenue ranges, growth profiles, or geographic markets. Instead of manually researching thousands of companies, you can quickly spot companies likely to raise private capital or be acquisition targets based on proprietary data and predictive signals.
Acquirer goes further by targeting institutional investors, family offices, or funds that invest in specific sectors or deal sizes. When you’re advising a company on raising private capital, Acquirer can provide matchmaking that aligns companies with the most relevant sponsors, reducing wasted outreach and increasing conversion rates.
Projected to Raise delivers predictive insights that forecast which companies are most likely to seek funding in the near term. This advantage is enormous. Approaching companies before public fundraising news drops means you can build relationships, understand their needs, and position your firm before competitors even know there’s an opportunity.
Raiser provides market intelligence that maps private market activity, trends, and valuations across sectors. You can track which sponsors or investors are actively deploying capital in target industries, understand fundraising efficiency by seeing deal patterns and outcomes, and conduct competitive benchmarking to identify which companies and funds are successfully closing deals and why.

Private markets have become too large, too important, and too competitive for manual research methods, and the movements confirm what forward-thinking firms already knew.

The future of private markets advisory belongs to those who combine relationship skills with data-driven intelligence about who needs capital, who’s deploying it, and how to connect the two sides efficiently.