Wall Street Muscles in on VCs’ Turf With Private Markets Deals

In the span of a few weeks, some of Wall Street’s biggest banks have put down stakes in territory historically controlled by venture capital.

First, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buyIndustry Ventures, a company with stakes in 800 venture capital funds. Weeks later, Morgan Stanley struck a deal for EquityZen, a trading platform for shares in privately held companies. Charles Schwab Corp. followed, buying EquityZen’s rival, Forge Global Holdings Inc.

The trio of takeovers will provide deal flow, data and relationships with fast-growing startups to institutions that have traditionally focused on companies trading on the public markets. But they’ll also give clients ...