Morningstar Says “Game On” to Helping Investors Make Sense of the Public-Private Market Reality

Morningstar debuts its “Game On” U.S. campaign to frame public and private market challenges around four core solution areas for investors.

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The U.S. brand campaign brings Morningstar’s “Nothing in your way” message to life through a playful, game-inspired world designed to connect investor barriers to the company’s Data, Credit Ratings, Indexes, and Investments solutions

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investing insights, today launched Game On, a U.S. brand campaign about a complex challenge facing investors: public and private markets are blurring, putting a premium on clarity across both. Private companies are taking longer to go public, with the median age increasing nearly 60% since 2014, private credit is moving into the mainstream, and semiliquid funds are growing strategies for more investors. Each shift matters on its own. Together, they mean public and private assets land in the same portfolios, even as investors still face big differences in pricing, disclosure, liquidity, fees, benchmarks, and risk measures.

“Public and private markets increasingly belong in the same conversation, yet investors are still asked to evaluate them with different information, benchmarks, and standards,” said Kunal Kapoor, chief executive officer of Morningstar. “Morningstar has grown by focusing on making complex markets more transparent and useful. Game On reflects that ambition: to build a common language across markets, to address long-standing inefficiencies, and to help investors make better decisions.”

Built around real investor hurdles, Game On, developed with Substance Collective, brings Morningstar’s “Nothing in Your Way” brand to life by turning market pain points into a playful, 8-bit world.

“The game metaphor gives us a simple way to visualize the friction investors may face every day,” said Nicolette Konkol, senior vice president of corporate marketing at Morningstar. “The campaign starts with identifying barriers in investors’ way, then shows how Morningstar helps them clear the path to move forward across four connected areas: Data, Credit Ratings, Indexes, and Investments. The creative is designed to make otherwise intangible barriers tangible, and the substance is supported by the Morningstar data, research, ratings, benchmarks, and tools investors and advisors already rely on.”

Seeing private markets more clearly

The first barrier is visibility. Private companies generally disclose less than public companies, and the information that exists can be scattered across sources that do not always connect. That makes it harder to see the full picture of a company, transaction, fund, or strategy. Morningstar helps address that gap by pairing private-market intelligence with independent investment research, while PitchBook adds data on more than 13 million privately held companies globally, and nearly 300,000 debt financed companies.

That need for transparency also shows up in semiliquid funds, which can vary widely in liquidity, leverage, valuation practices, fees, investment process, and risk. Assets in the category approached $600 billion as of March 2026, more than double their year-end 2022 level, while average expense ratios remained around 3%, often before the full impact of incentive fees, according to Morningstar’s The State of Semiliquid Funds 2026 report. Morningstar Medalist Ratings for Semiliquid Funds applies a consistent, forward-looking framework to help investors compare strategies in a market that has not always had comparable analysis.

Building benchmarks for a market that no longer divides neatly

The second obstacle is measurement. Traditional public-market benchmarks can leave out companies that stay private through later stages of growth, making it harder for investors to compare the full opportunity set. Morningstar Indexes helps narrow that divide with rules-based benchmarks that bring more of that opportunity set into view. The Morningstar PitchBook Unicorn 30 Index tracks 30 large, venture-backed companies valued at more than $1 billion, while the Morningstar PitchBook US Modern Market 100 Index brings public companies and late-stage private companies into one benchmark. Together, they give investors a clearer way to track and compare opportunities that no longer fit neatly on one side of the public-private divide.

Applying the same rigor to credit ratings, public or private

The third obstacle is assessing credit risk when private-market disclosure is not standardized. Morningstar DBRS provides independent public and private credit ratings grounded in established methodologies and a structured process designed to promote consistency and transparency. In middle-market private credit, that analysis brings greater visibility to leverage, cash flow durability, and downside risk.

Helping investors put it all together in portfolios

The fourth obstacle comes when investors try to act on all of this. Portfolios that blend public and private assets raise practical questions around manager selection, liquidity, due diligence, and ongoing oversight. Morningstar Wealth is working with Apollo, Franklin Templeton, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management to build public/private model portfolios that combine Morningstar’s asset allocation framework, manager research, and due diligence with alternative investment capabilities.

Game On launches today across paid, earned, shared, and owned channels in the U.S., including digital, video, social, email, industry media, out-of-home, and Morningstar-owned channels. Experience the campaign and explore what’s possible when there’s Nothing in your way.

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 for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets, and alliances and redistributors. 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 $375 billion in AUMA as of June 30, 2026. The Company operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on X @MorningstarInc.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as “ consider, “is designed to,” “plan,” “future,” “maintain,” “may,” “expect,” “potential,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “will,” or the negative thereof, and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among other things, failing to achieve the anticipated benefits of the Game On campaign or other brand and marketing efforts on a timely basis or at all. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our most recent Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results and other future events may vary significantly from what we expect. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. You are, however, advised to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects, and about new or additional risks, uncertainties and assumptions in our filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K.

©2026 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

MORN-C

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260914691252/en/

Allison Phelps, Newsroom@morningstar.com

Source: Morningstar, Inc.

Key Terms

semiliquid funds financial

Semiliquid funds are investment pools that let investors take money out only under certain conditions or at set times, rather than on demand like a bank account. They typically invest in assets that can be sold but may require notice periods, limited windows for withdrawals, or fees to access cash. For investors this matters because semiliquid funds balance higher potential returns from less-traded assets with reduced short-term access to cash—think of them as a savings jar you can open only on specific days.

expense ratios financial

A fund's expense ratio is the annual percentage taken from the fund’s assets to pay for running the fund — such as management, record-keeping and other operating costs. Investors care because that fee comes out of returns over time, so even a small difference acts like a regular maintenance charge (similar to a subscription or car upkeep) that can noticeably reduce compounded gains.

credit ratings financial

A credit rating is a short, standardized judgment about how likely a borrower is to repay debt, similar to a report-card grade for loans. Investors use these grades to judge risk quickly: higher ratings signal lower chance of default and usually lower interest costs, while lower ratings mean more risk, higher yields, and potential price drops — so ratings help decide whether a bond or loan fits an investor’s risk tolerance.