Morningstar Introduces Morningstar PitchBook Unicorn 30 Index

January 21, 2025 at 15:32 PM EST

Morningstar adds to its growing suite of global indexes providing more transparency into the late-stage venture capital market for a range of investor use cases, from benchmarking to investable product creation.

Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, today introduces the Morningstar® PitchBook® Unicorn 30 Index (UI30), adding to its expanding suite of market data, research and index tools to help investors measure and access the late-stage venture capital market. Powered by PitchBook’s extensive private capital market data coverage, the new index tracks the 30 largest and most liquid “unicorns,” or late-stage venture capital-backed private companies valued at $1 billion or more, providing investors with access to some of the most innovative and fastest growing companies across developed global markets.

Built for investability, the new index employs screens to address liquidity challenges and is calculated daily with a market-driven pricing model that combines actual transaction data from multiple secondary market price aggregators.

“Private markets continue to grow in scope and investor interest as private companies become a much bigger part of the economic picture. From an individual investor standpoint, however, access to private markets has historically been a challenge, with available investment tools underdelivered,” said Ron Bundy, president of Morningstar Sustainalytics & Morningstar Indexes. “We believe that trend is changing, however, and are excited to help expand the investable universe for all investors through our growing suite of unicorn indexes.”

The Unicorn 30 Index was developed as part of an ongoing collaboration between Morningstar Indexes, the fastest growing global index provider for the last three years, and PitchBook, the leading provider of data, research and tools on global private capital and credit markets. The index provides access to some of the most innovative and fastest growing late-stage venture capital companies such as SpaceX, Stripe, OpenAI and SHEIN. PitchBook’s extensive database is the key input powering the pricing model, enabling investors to track the most promising investment opportunities within the private markets.

“The private capital markets have become a vital engine for transforming industries and global economies. As the private markets continue to become more prominent and influential, PitchBook is the natural leader to drive greater understanding of market activity and enable access to private market investment opportunities to a wider investor base,” said Rod Diefendorf, president and chief operating officer of PitchBook. “Transparency is key to driving this momentum, and indexes like this play a crucial role in fueling innovation, supporting entrepreneurship, and driving market growth.”

Added Sanjay Arya, head of innovation for Morningstar Indexes, “Public equity markets no longer represent the full scope of the global economy. Venture capital, as reflected by the post-money valuation of companies in PitchBook’s venture-backed database, now represents 9% of the global equity market, as represented by the total market value of firms in the Morningstar Global Markets Index, up from 2% a decade ago, making its integration important for investor portfolios. In line with our mission to make it easier for investors to measure and invest in private markets, this is our most liquid and investable unicorn index.”

About Morningstar Indexes

As the fastest-growing global index provider for the last three years according to Burton-Taylor International Consulting, Morningstar Indexes was built to keep up with the evolving needs of investors—and to be a leading-edge advocate for them. Morningstar's rich heritage as a transparent, investor-focused leader in data and research uniquely equips Morningstar Indexes to support individuals, institutions, wealth managers and advisors in navigating investment opportunities across all major asset classes, styles, and strategies. From assessing risk and return with traditional benchmarks to helping investors effectively incorporate ESG objectives into their investment process, our range of index solutions spans an investment landscape as diverse as investors themselves. We help investors answer today's increasingly complex questions so that they can more easily reach tomorrow's goals. Please visit indexes.morningstar.com for more information.

About PitchBook

PitchBook is a financial data and software company that provides transparency into the capital markets to help professionals discover and execute opportunities with confidence and efficiency. PitchBook collects and analyzes detailed data on the entire venture capital, private equity, and M&A landscape—including public and private companies, investors, funds, investments, exits, and people. The company’s data and analysis are available through the PitchBook Platform, industry news, and in-depth reports. Founded in 2007, PitchBook operates globally with more than 3,000 team members. Its platform, data, and research serve over 100,000 professionals around the world. In 2016, Morningstar acquired PitchBook, which now operates as an independent subsidiary.

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services that serve a wide range of market participants, including individual and institutional investors in public and private capital markets, financial advisors and wealth managers, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and issuers of fixed-income securities. institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $328 billion in AUMA as of Sept 30, 2024. The Company operates through wholly- or majority-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MorningstarInc.

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Contacts

Morningstar Media Contacts:

Tim Benedict, +1 203 339-1912 or tim.benedict@morningstar.com

Orion Sang, Edelman Smithfield, + 734 678-2187 or Orion.Sang@edelman.com

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Morningstar Introduces Morningstar PitchBook Unicorn 30 Index

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