Private markets are building new routes for investors who cannot easily sell their positions. Cox Capital is expanding its liquidity platform into interval funds, while EquityZen’s completed acquisition by Morgan Stanley places a major secondary-market marketplace inside an investment bank.
These moves point to a market focused on one powerful question: how can investors gain access to private assets without waiting for a public listing or another traditional exit? The answer is taking shape through tender offers, secondary transactions, and platforms designed to connect buyers and sellers of hard-to-trade investments.
Cox Capital Pushes Beyond Non-Traded BDCs
Cox Capital Partners, LP plans to expand its tender offer program for non-traded business development companies into the interval fund market. The firm announced the plan on August 20, 2026, after spending the past six years building a platform for sourcing and executing secondary liquidity transactions for retail investors in non-traded BDCs and other illiquid vehicles.
Interval funds give retail investors access to private credit, private equity, and other alternative assets, but those funds offer limited liquidity. Cox Capital’s expansion targets that gap by bringing its existing approach to a wider group of private-market investments.
Cox Capital and its affiliates recently launched tender offers for certain publicly registered funds managed by HPS, Apollo, Ares, and Blue Owl. The firm and its affiliates intend to return with additional offers later this year and in January, creating a continuing program for investors seeking a path to liquidity.
The structure is direct. Cox Capital and its affiliates purchase positions for their own accounts, and they do not charge investors a separate trading fee. The tender offer prices are typically set at a discount to the fund’s net asset value, so investors receive a liquidity option while accepting a price below the stated value of their holdings.
John Cox, founder and CEO of Cox Capital, described the company’s goal in clear terms: “Our mission is to bring to the retail market what institutional investors have long been able to count on: an accessible and durable secondary source of liquidity for illiquid alternatives exposure.”
Why Liquidity Matters in Private Assets
Cox Capital’s expansion rests on the idea that access to private investments and access to liquidity must develop together. Private credit, private equity, and other alternative assets can sit inside vehicles that do not trade like public stocks, leaving investors with fewer ways to adjust their positions.
“Liquidity is not simply a safeguard for volatile markets. It can give advisors greater confidence to allocate client capital to long-term investments,” Cox said.
That view connects the tender-offer market to a broader shift in private investing. Institutional investors have long used secondary markets to manage exposure, and Cox Capital is positioning its platform as a way to bring similar liquidity solutions to retail investors holding illiquid alternative investments.
“Institutional investors have long relied on active secondary markets to manage their exposure. We believe individual investors should have access to the same type of liquidity solutions,” Cox said.
EquityZen Brings Venture Shares Into a Larger Platform
EquityZen has operated since 2013 as a marketplace for buying and selling shares of venture-backed companies before they go public. Its business sits inside the secondary market for private company shares, where investors can trade positions before a public listing creates a broader market.
Morgan Stanley announced plans to acquire EquityZen in October 2025 and completed the deal in January 2026. Phil Haslett, co-founder and chief strategy officer of EquityZen, now represents a marketplace that has spent more than a decade operating in the private-share market.
The timing follows a stronger period for venture-backed IPO activity. The second quarter was one of the strongest venture-backed IPO quarters since 2021, driven largely by SpaceX. Remove SpaceX from the numbers, and the IPO market for late-stage startups is still better than it was three or six months ago.
That improvement has not lifted every company. Some companies, including Cerebras, have come down in IPO performance after initial enthusiasm. The mixed results show why secondary markets continue to matter: private-company shareholders may need options before, during, or after a public-market debut.
EquityZen’s marketplace and Cox Capital’s tender-offer platform address different parts of the private-market system. EquityZen focuses on shares in venture-backed companies before they go public, while Cox Capital focuses on liquidity for retail holders of non-traded BDCs, interval funds, and other illiquid alternative investments.
A Broader Test for Private-Market Access
Together, these developments expand the routes available to investors holding private or illiquid assets. One platform connects buyers and sellers of private-company shares, while the other purchases positions directly through tender offers, with prices typically below net asset value.
The next steps will show how far these liquidity solutions can reach. Cox Capital plans additional offers later this year and in January, and its move into interval funds places private credit, private equity, and other alternative assets at the center of its expansion.
At the same time, Morgan Stanley’s completed acquisition of EquityZen gives the secondary market for venture-backed shares a new institutional connection. Private markets are no longer defined only by the wait for an exit; they are developing systems that let investors manage exposure before that moment arrives.
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