Wall Street Muscles In on VCs' Turf With Private Markets Deals

In the span of a few weeks, some of Wall Street’s biggest banks have put down stakes in territory historically controlled by venture capital.

First, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buy Industry Ventures, a company with stakes in 800 venture capital funds. Weeks later, Morgan Stanley struck a deal for EquityZen, a trading platform for shares in privately held companies. Charles Schwab Corp. followed, buying EquityZen’s rival, Forge Global Holdings Inc.