Ondo launches Private Markets platform with tokenized notes tied to a pre-IPO AI company

Ondo Finance wants to give regular investors a way into the private markets. It is starting with the hottest corner of them: artificial intelligence.

The company officially launched Ondo Private Markets on October 6, 2026. The platform offers eligible investors economic exposure to leading private companies through tokenized notes. The first of those notes will track a pre-IPO AI company.

How the tokenized notes actually work

Each note is linked to the per-share value of the AI company’s common stock at a liquidity event, such as an IPO or an acquisition.

The tokens do not represent actual ownership and carry no shareholder or voting rights. They are obligations of the issuer, which means holders are relying on the issuer to make good on the note.

The first notes, tied to the leading pre-IPO AI company, are expected to begin trading on secondary markets on a 24/7 basis this week. That round-the-clock trading is a sharp contrast to how private shares typically change hands, which tends to involve paperwork, gatekeepers, and a lot of waiting.

The offering is available only to non-US investors in jurisdictions where it is permitted.

Ondo did not disclose assets under management or fund sizes for Ondo Private Markets at launch.

Why Ondo is betting on private companies

Acting CEO Ian De Bode framed the launch around a structural gap in how wealth gets built. According to De Bode, 87% of US companies generating more than $100 million in revenue remain private.

Ondo is targeting future offerings across robotics, cybersecurity, biotech, infrastructure, defense, energy, and space.

From Treasuries to unicorns

The move builds on a tokenization framework Ondo has already put to work. Until now, its products centered on US Treasuries and public equity markets.

Ondo’s tokenized equities and Treasuries hold a total value locked of more than $3.7 billion, spread across more than 1 million cumulative holders.

What this means for investors and the tokenization market

Because the notes are issuer obligations rather than equity, holders take on exposure to the issuer as well as to the underlying company. If the AI company soars but the issuer stumbles, the note is only as good as the promise behind it.

With De Bode’s 87% figure focused on American companies, the most natural audience for the product is currently shut out. Any future expansion of eligibility would be a meaningful signal for how regulators view this kind of instrument.