Working alongside SVB Financial Group, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, the new venture aims to establish an institutional-grade, centralised secondary trading venue for issuers, brokers, shareholders and prospective investors of private company stock.

Under the arrangement, Nasdaq Private Market's existing technology, client relationships, and regulatory infrastructure will provide the foundation for the joint venture, which will receive strategic investments from consortium partners.

The exchange operator says the new company will help to fulfil unmet market demand by providing a global marketplace where companies, brokers and investors will be able to access, connect, manage, execute and settle their private company stock transactions through a single technology platform.

Launched in 2014, Nasdaq Private Market has cultivated relationships with more than 250 private companies worldwide, facilitated 477 private company transactions serving 59,000 shareholders, and executed more than $30 billion in transaction volume

“Innovation companies are staying private longer and need the ability to offer their employees a safe and easy way to generate liquidity while they are building their businesses,” says Greg Becker, CEO of SVB Financial Group, parent company of Silicon Valley Bank. “Together with Nasdaq and this impressive consortium of leading banks, we are establishing a secondary trading venue for private company stock that will offer our clients a path to employee retention in an environment where access to talent is one of the biggest challenges.”