Texas Stock Exchange Raises $161 Million, Sees 2026 Trading Start

TXSE Group Inc., parent company of the proposed Texas Stock Exchange, closed its initial fundraising round at $161 million and said the TXSE has filed for registration as a bourse with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

If the registration is granted, trading would start in early 2026, the company said in a statement Friday. It had previously said trading would begin by the end of this year. The exchange – whose backers include BlackRock Inc. and Citadel Securities – is still targeting its first listings for next year.

The upstart TXSE is seeking to join a handful of smaller bourses that are trying to bite off market share from the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, which dominate US public-equity trading. The challengers are battling for a piece of a shrinking pie: Listings have declined precipitously since the 1990s as the rise of private equity has made it easier for companies to avoid the costs of going public for longer.

Additionally, the majority of US stock trades is now consistently occurring outside of public exchanges. The proposed Texas bourse says it wants to lower the cost of going public while “revitalizing competition for listings and enhancing trading in the US capital markets,” TXSE Chief Executive Officer James Lee said in the statement.

The company was able to boost its capital raise by about $40 million since it disclosed in June that it had brought in $120 million. Other investors include Charles Schwab Corp. and Michael Dell’s family investment office.

In addition to equities, the Dallas-based bourse plans to host auctions and sell exchange-traded products and data. It’s still looking for a space to house its permanent headquarters, which will contain offices, a conference center and a television studio complete with an opening bell.