BlackRock anchors Clear Street's US$1.05bn Nasdaq IPO
Clear Street launched marketing on Wednesday of a US$1.05bn Nasdaq IPO with a sizable anchor from BlackRock, giving the digital-native broker a powerful endorsement as it seeks to disrupt long-entrenched players in securities and derivatives trading.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Clear Street are looking to sell 23.8m new shares at US$40–$44, with BlackRock committing upfront to invest up to US$200m in the offering. The all-primary offering is scheduled to price after the market close next Thursday, February 12.
The IPO terms imply an equity market capitalization of up to US$13.9bn, exceeding the US$12bn valuation Clear Street secured in a late-stage Series C round in December and marking a dramatic rise from the US$2bn valuation on its Series B round three years ago.
Clear Street pitches its mission as an effort to "give every sophisticated investor access to every asset class, in every market".
Founded in 2018, the company generated US$460m–$484m of adjusted Ebitda in 2025 and more than doubled net revenue to US$1.04bn–$1.06bn, according to preliminary results provided at launch. That compares to US$142.9m of adjusted Ebitda and US$463.6m of net revenue in 2024.
Clear Street clears more than US$30bn of equity trading volume daily across more than 50 exchanges. In addition to prime brokerage, derivatives trading and portfolio management tools, the firm is expanding into digital assets, including stablecoin, and prediction markets.
The IPO will help fuel international expansion by increasing Clear Street's cash holdings to US$1.5bn. Building on its base in the US, Clear Street expanded to Canada and the UK in 2023 and 2024 and has submitted applications for licenses in the European Union.
To support its growth and acquisition strategy, Clear Street last year arranged a new US$980m revolving credit facility and raised another US$300m from a bond sale. While BlackRock may have participated on the credit side, its equity commitment in the IPO appears to be new.
Just last week, Clear Street announced it has agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based Boom Securities, a fully licensed clearing brokerage serving the Asia-Pacific region, for US$70m in cash and stock. It also obtained its own capital markets services license in Singapore.
As evidenced by its participation as a bookrunner on its own IPO, Clear Street also advises on equity, debt and M&A transactions. Its investment banking unit contributed US$116m of revenue in the first nine months of 2025.
Clear Street has recruited top Wall Street bankers to help oversee its expansion.
In 2023, Clear Street hired Jonathan Daplyn, formerly head of prime brokerage technology at Morgan Stanley, as chief information officer before elevating him to COO last year. John Levene, a partner at Goldman Sachs, joined in April 2025 to lead prime brokerage. Edward Tilly, the former CEO of CBOE Global Markets, serves as CEO, while co-founder Uriel Cohen is executive chairman.