The largest technology companies in the U.S. have one thing in common — they are publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange. The meteoric rise of Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, among others, throughout the 2010s and 2020s netted individual investors trillions.

Non-institutional investors may be locked out of the mega-cap companies of the future.

In the 1990s, a tech company such as Amazon or eBay might go public within four or five years of founding, giving everyday investors the chance to participate in its growth. Today, venture funds, sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms are pouring tens of billions into private companies, allowing them to delay IPOs until they've reached massive valuations.

OpenAI, the creator of the GPT large-language models, is among the fastest-growing companies in the world. But the San Francisco-based company has shunned an IPO in favor of large funding rounds from the likes of Microsoft, SoftBank Group and several prominent investment managers. OpenAI recently explored a secondary stock sale, valuing the company at over $500 billion.

SpaceX, the space exploration start-up founded by Elon Musk, has also opted to rely on private funding in lieu of an IPO. An insider sale in July valued the company at nearly $400 billion, mostly based on its satellite arm Starlink.

By the time these companies debut on the public markets, if it all, much of the explosive growth may have already been captured by early-stage investors.

Companies have often deferred IPOs in favor of staying private in recent years. Consolidation has also become prevalent as the largest companies have increasingly become highly acquisitive.

While many companies, such as Figma Inc., have had successful IPOs in 2025, public offerings on the whole have stagnated due to tariff concerns and economic uncertainty.

In the mid-1990s, nearly 8,000 companies were publicly traded on U.S. exchanges. Today, there are fewer than 4,000, according to the Tuck School of Business. Meanwhile, private capital sources such as private equity and venture capital have become more prevalent.

Still, individual investors may not be locked out entirely.

Microsoft’s stock has soared over 150% in the past five years on the back of its successful partnership with OpenAI. Meanwhile, other Magnificent Seven companies such as Nvidia and Meta Platforms have seen large gains based on AI developments.

Still, analysts note that with many high-growth companies remaining private longer, the window for individual investors to participate in early-stage growth may be narrowing.

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