Augment as Broker-Friendly Exchange
Noel Moldvai and Adam Crawley, co-founders of Augment, on software-enabled secondaries markets
This reveals that Augment is trying to win the market by becoming the place where brokers plug in, not the firm that tries to replace them. Independent broker dealers already control a large share of secondary flow because top brokers can leave big platforms, keep far more of their commissions, and bring their buyer and seller relationships with them. A central exchange model turns that fragmented relationship network into a shared order book and faster execution engine.
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The broker dynamic is mostly about payout economics. Large platforms pushed commissions down from more than 50% to around 25%, while independent broker dealers let small teams keep roughly 70% to 90% of commissions. That pulls experienced brokers away from centralized brokerage shops and into independent networks.
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That makes a broker friendly platform a strong wedge. Instead of hiring an internal salesforce to chase every deal, Augment seeded the marketplace with major independent broker dealers, giving it immediate buy side and sell side volume and enough flow to automate matching and execution workflows.
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The broader market is converging on the same bottleneck. Caplight describes itself as infrastructure for brokers rather than a direct broker, and EquityZen argues that too many gatekeepers and intermediaries slow deals and inflate prices. The common opportunity is software that helps brokers transact faster and more transparently, instead of cutting them out.
Over time, the winners in private secondaries are likely to look less like traditional brokerages and more like market infrastructure. If Augment can keep brokers on platform while automating matching, settlement, and issuer workflows, it moves from being one more participant in the market to becoming part of the rails the rest of the market runs on.