Morningstar, Inc. has introduced the Morningstar PitchBook US Modern Market 100 Index (‘Modern Market 100’). With the growth of private capital markets, this new benchmark is the first to bridge public and private equity exposure in a single index. The index provides a unified framework to benchmark performance and serves as the basis for investable products.
Unlike traditional benchmarks capturing only publicly listed companies, the Modern Market 100 blends the largest US-listed companies with the most significant late-stage venture-backed private companies. According to Morningstar experts, with companies raising significant capital while staying private longer, public indexes don’t always include the full investor opportunity set. This is especially true in technology-driven areas like AI, biotech, and fintech, where many of the most dynamic firms remain private well into maturity.
Morningstar research highlights that expanding equity market exposure to late-stage VC-backed companies can enhance diversification and unlock growth potential in innovative segments which public markets alone cannot capture. The Modern Market 100 is the first index to measure the performance of 100 of the largest US companies, combining 90 publicly listed firms with 10 VC-backed leaders such as SpaceX, OpenAI, and Stripe, in a single point of access to both public and private equities. To accurately represent the relative overall size of the public and private equity markets, the index allocates 90% to public companies and 10% to private firms, ensuring the index mirrors the actual structure of the modern equity landscape.
Built for investability, the index applies transparent pricing, liquidity screens, and quarterly rebalances. It calculates daily, with prices for VC-backed companies based on verified secondary market transactions, while public company prices are sourced from official exchange closes. The Modern Market 100 is The Modern Market 100 is the latest in Morningstar’s growing suite of indexes drawing on PitchBook’s leading private market data and insights to help investors better understand and access private markets.
This effort reinforces Morningstar’s commitment to developing a next generation of companion indexes designed to equip investors with more accurate tools, deeper insights, and better ways to navigate an evolving market landscape. 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, range of index solutions spans an investment landscape as diverse as investors themselves.
