The best growth stories in the world still have not IPO’d - here's how to access them

Please note, this interview was recorded Monday 4 May, 2026

One of the things that has always frustrated me about investing is the inability to participate in what are objectively amazing opportunities before they reach public markets, i.e., before they IPO.

History is littered with legendary investments that were “obvious” before IPO-ing, but the catch is that most (almost all) people either couldn’t access them, underestimated their scale, or thought the valuation already looked absurd.

I’m talking about the Googles, Facebooks (now Meta) and Amazons of the world that looked like winners before a share was ever traded in anger. As Kevin Moss, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of Liberty Street Advisors, puts it; 

“Historically, the greatest wealth creation has often happened before companies ever reached the public markets.”

Right now, my frustration is at a fever pitch because there are a plethora of potentially cracking pre-IPO investment opportunities, some of which you have probably heard of.

I’m talking about OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, Aussie success story Canva, Kraken, Databricks and - the grandaddy of them all - Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Well, for anyone who shares my frustration about the lack of access to these opportunities, I have some good news.

GAM Investments partnered with Liberty Street Advisors to bring the GAM LSA Private Shares AU Fund, a late-stage private growth strategy, to Australian advised retail investors. The fund provides access to a diversified portfolio of leading privately-owned companies in their final non-public funding rounds.

Looking at the fund’s current holdings, it reads like a who’s who of potentially great businesses: Discord, Databricks, Kraken, and a holding in SpaceX that constitutes 15% of the portfolio.

In this interview, as part of Livewire’s 2026 Growth Series, Moss explains why late-stage private markets may now offer a higher-quality opportunity set than public markets, how Liberty Street gains access to companies most investors never see, and why SpaceX remains one of the most compelling growth stories in the world today.

INTERVIEW SUMMARY

The private market reset is improving quality

For years, late-stage private markets were flooded with capital chasing narrative-driven growth stories. Cheap money rewarded ambition over execution and valuations often detached from fundamentals. Moss argues that environment has changed dramatically.

“We think higher rates and greater scrutiny have forced a healthy reset in late-stage private markets,” Moss said. 

“Story stocks with no clear path to profitability have been repriced or sidelined.”

That shift, he says, has improved the calibre of opportunities now available to investors willing to do the work. Rather than betting on speculative concepts, Liberty Street Advisors is focusing on businesses already demonstrating meaningful scale, strong economics and competitive advantages.

“Real growth today is in companies that already show significant revenue, show unit economics that work and have durable competitive moats,” he said.

For Moss, the attraction of late-stage venture capital is that many of these businesses are already operating like mature listed companies, despite remaining private.

“We're now investing in businesses that are ready for public market discipline rather than hoping they get there.”

Access remains the biggest advantage

While enthusiasm for private markets has grown, access remains one of the biggest barriers for most investors. Moss believes this is where specialist managers can differentiate themselves most clearly.

“Our team has spent more than a decade building deep relationships with founders, existing shareholders, our VC partners, other institutional investors, and secondary platforms,” he said.

Those relationships allow the fund to participate in tender offers, secondary transactions and late-stage funding rounds that are typically unavailable to retail investors.

“That gives us the ability to participate in high-quality companies that most investors simply never see.”

The focus is firmly on category leaders with proven economics. Moss said Liberty Street looks for businesses with large and growing revenues, scalable operating models and defensible advantages such as network effects, proprietary technology or cost leadership.

Why SpaceX stands out

SpaceX is the fund’s largest position at around 15% of the portfolio, and Moss made it clear this is not simply a thematic or aspirational investment.

“This is not ambition for ambition’s sake,” he said. “It is a company that already generates substantial revenue and EBITDA today.”

Moss pointed to Starlink as a major driver of recurring, high-margin revenue, while Falcon continues to dominate launch economics globally. Defence applications through Starshield add another layer of contracted and potentially durable earnings. “We see three main engines that reinforce each other,” he said.

Moss also highlighted the longer-term optionality embedded within the business. Starship has the potential to dramatically expand the economics of space transportation, while the intersection between Starlink and AI infrastructure could create additional growth vectors over time.

“Long-term value comes from this combination of proven cash flows today, plus the big upside from future platforms.”

Discipline still matters in private markets

One of the biggest concerns investors often raise about private markets is valuation transparency. Without continuous market pricing, how can investors know what these assets are really worth? Moss said the answer lies in disciplined underwriting and ongoing valuation reviews.

“We underwrite every position with the same rigour we would on day one,” he said.

The process includes multiple valuation inputs, internal reviews, independent quarterly assessments and annual audits. Importantly, Moss stressed that positions are marked conservatively despite the strong growth narratives attached to many of these businesses. He also warned investors not to repeat the mistakes of the 2020 and 2021 boom period.

“This can shape up to be an attractive vintage for deploying capital in high-conviction names, but let us not make the same mistake some made in chasing valuations in hyped-up names.”

Where private shares fit in a portfolio

Moss sees the GAM LSA Private Shares AU Fund as a complementary growth allocation rather than a replacement for public equities.

“It delivers differentiated exposure to the highest-quality late-stage companies, an illiquidity premium and true diversification from listed markets,” he said.

The strategy typically targets companies that may reach liquidity events through IPOs, secondary sales or mergers and acquisitions within two to five years, although exceptional businesses can remain private for longer.

For investors frustrated by the shrinking opportunity set in listed markets, Moss believes late-stage private markets offer access to the next generation of global growth leaders before they eventually hit public exchanges. 

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GAM LSA Private Shares AU Fund

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