North Capital Alts Trading System Lists More Than 300 New Securities in July
North Capital Private Securities Corporation – a solutions provider for private and other exempt offerings and alternative investments – has listed 311 new securities on the PPEX ATS, the firm’s alternative trading system, i.e., ATS, during the first three weeks of July. This was a 42% increase month-over-month, bringing the total to more than 1,000 securities trading on PPEX.
“The PPEX ATS continues to be a leading secondary marketplace for issuers of private and other exempt securities,” said Michael T. Weaver, CFA, managing director and head of trading at North Capital. “As more companies opt to stay private for longer, the need for a structured secondary market has never been greater,” said Weaver.
“Private market issuers are increasingly building a secondary market strategy into their distribution plans; we created the PPEX ATS to serve these issuers,” said James P. Dowd, CFA, chief executive officer of North Capital.
PPEX ATS launched in July 2021 for illiquid and private securities. According to the company, it has matched over 500,000 trades – a large majority from Reg A+ issuers and some from Reg D issuers. It supports issuers and advisers, funding platforms, and other broker-dealers.
A March 2025 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Economic Risk Analysis report shows that the number of private offerings increased from 61,355 in 2015 to 87,716 in 2024. The volume of capital raised in these offerings increased from $1.37 trillion to $3.22 trillion, a compound growth rate of 8.9% per annum.
According to FINRA’s OTC Transparency data, the PPEX ATS reported the fourth highest number of trades for an ATS in over-the-counter equities for the first quarter of 2025, ranking behind ATS’ operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. and Intercontinental Exchange Inc.
“Issuers are realizing that regulated alternative trading systems play an important role in facilitating liquidity for existing investors and can open opportunities to engage with new investors,” said Sara Judd, chief operating officer and head of business development. “Expanding secondary markets is also about expanding primary distribution.”
The PPEX ATS was licensed in 2020, but the planning for PPEX began in 2017 when the growth of private markets was beginning to accelerate and North Capital acknowledged a familiar problem. “An investment market where you can buy and never sell is not much of a market,” said Dowd. “Alternatives professionals refer to this as the Hotel California problem – ‘you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.’ It’s been an issue in private markets for decades.”
According to North Capital, a palpable shift has occurred over the past year, with growth in private fund secondaries and in private company transfers. “Investors are smart and demanding, and one of the questions they are now asking is ‘how and when will I be able to exit my investment?’” said Dowd.
Dowd says the example of crypto markets has contributed to this shift. “The ease of crypto trading and related financial products has influenced opinions about alternative investments among retail investors. Today’s investors can open an account in a few minutes, trade in prediction markets, and speculate in meme stocks. Why shouldn’t they be able to buy and sell private securities just as easily? It’s a reasonable question.”
North Capital expects the ATS business to continue to grow; thus far, it has processed over 1.4 million private securities transactions for Reg D, Reg A+ and Reg CF offerings.
Through North Capital Investment Technology and its registered broker-dealer North Capital Private Securities Corporation, North Capital Private Securities Corporation offers transaction technology and infrastructure for exempt securities, facilitates escrow, streamlines investor vetting, and operates the PPEX ATS.
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