The private markets have seen extraordinary growth, reaching a new milestone of $1 trillion in market capitalization this month.

The proposed merger between Elon Musk's xAI and SpaceX would put the valuation of the combined companies at $1.25 trillion, following Tesla (TSLA  ), which is currently valued at $1.5 trillion, a report from Forge Global cited.

Apple (AAPL  ) was the first company to reach $1 trillion in market capitalization, but had been operating for 42 years, 37 of those as a public company. In comparison, SpaceX has reached a $1 trillion valuation in 23 years as a private company.

"This dynamic underscores the trend of companies remaining private for longer periods, with a greater share of value creation potentially accruing to private investors," the report cited.

If OpenAI goes through with an IPO its company valuation would sit at $1 trillion, a milestone achieved after only 11 years old.

Private Companies Are Hitting Higher Valuations Faster

In December 2022, the combined valuation of the top 100 private companies stood at approximately $955 billion. As of February 3rd, 2026 the most valuable single private company exceeds that valuation by itself.

The report noted that the top 100 private companies now exceed $3.5 trillion, a 268 percent increase over the same period.

"Today's largest private companies more closely resemble their public market counterparts in terms of greater financial scale, operational depth, and durability," the report stated.

Seven of the largest valued private companies driving the private market include: Andruil, Anthropic, Databricks, OpenAI, SpaceX and xAI. Dubbed "The Private Magnificent 7" these private companies continue to outperform the public Magnificent 7, up 137 percent versus 22 percent in the same period.

With evolution of the first $1 trillion private company comes what Forge has coined the "Teracorn," a term used to reference a trillion dollar-plus private company.

Although the phrase is not yet widely used, Forge noted that the term may become "a defining feature of the next era of private-market value creation," the report stated.

January: Private Markets Surpassed Public Market Counterparts

January performance saw continued momentum in the space, while capital formation activity continued to strengthen.

The Forge Private Market Index (FPMI) rose 4.4 percent in January, while the cap-weighted Forge Accuidity Private Market Index (FAPMI) rose 1.8 percent.

Public market benchmarks saw more modest returns. SPY was up 1.5 percent and QQQ gained 1.2 percent, Forget noted.

Anthropic, xAI and Zipline all saw recent funding rounds. Meanwhile, SpaceX announced their potential IPO in 2026 - all positive signs of a growing market for private companies.