Public PE returns bounce back: In Q1, the median one-year return for large public alternatives managers climbed into double digits. Our report dives into the trends of increasing deployment, private credit's growing impact, and a cautious tone going forward. Read it here.
Evolution of biotech funds: Biotech VC fundraising is undergoing a boom-bust-reset cycle, peaking at $152 billion in 2018 before dropping to a decade-low $12 billion last year. Our research unpacks fund performance, regional changes, structural shifts, and more. Read it here.
Talking secondaries: As startups stay private longer and traditional exit avenues stall, secondaries have emerged as a compelling option. On Tuesday, we'll discuss the trend with Industry Ventures and Caplight. Register here. | | | | | |
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| How VCs are rethinking the liquidity playbook | | Secondaries, secondaries, secondaries! Those are the roars coming from the VC market at the moment, illustrating the hype surrounding secondaries. Different markets call for different return techniques, and the current market calls for creativity. Secondaries have been leaned upon by investors during the liquidity drought to help reassure LPs and to create distributions from unicorns that have been held back from public markets. The market has grown, but there are challenges, and pricing can vary widely between sales, even for the same company stock.  | | Secondaries are playing a more important role in VC. | Still, our market estimate puts the opportunity for VC-backed company secondaries at $60 billion, a significant jump from last year as unicorn values continue to surge. M&A has flown a bit under the radar in the current environment, though for good reason. Much of the M&A occurring today is small, outside of a few high-profile deals. What's interesting is that VC-backed companies have become major buyers. Companies like OpenAI and Databricks have ample cash to use toward growth, and market pressures have helped keep a ceiling over prices. Nearly 75% of VC-backed company acquisitions have been made by private company acquirers in 2025. At some point, the markets may shift back to a resurgence in IPOs and a return of widespread interest from large tech public buyers. This would be a welcome development for many in the industry. For now, the VC market is floating on less glitzy exit opportunities. For more data and analysis on these VC liquidity trends, read our free research notes: US VC Secondary Market Watch US VC-Backed M&A Outlook | | | | | | | | | PE gets called up to the major leagues | | Even as the broader markets remain flooded with uncertainty, one area continues to attract PE capital regardless of market conditions: professional sports. Sports franchises, often regarded as crown jewel assets, are largely uncorrelated with public markets and have experienced consistent valuation growth over the years. Since the turn of the century, all major North American professional sports leagues have outpaced the S&P 500, largely fueled by lucrative media rights deals.  | | Click for a big version of this chart on returns in sports. | The sports industry has an unmatched ability to captivate audiences and remains one of the last pillars of traditional broadcasting, thanks to the steadfast loyalty of global fan bases supporting these franchises. Since professional sports opened its door to PE, the ecosystem has been flooded with investments from firms or people in the PE industry eager to join the exclusive club that is sports ownership. An emerging growth area is women's sports, which has received considerable PE investment since the beginning of 2024. As women's leagues continue to expand with new teams, further investment is expected to flow. Other key catalysts driving industry growth include sports betting and the broader commercialization of the sector, both of which help scale the ecosystem, benefiting leagues and their investors. As these trends continue to evolve, they create new opportunities for revenue generation and fan engagement, further fueling the industry's expansion. The future of PE investment in sports leagues is bright, with each league touting its own growth prospects. As a result, we expect more sports-focused PE funds to be raised to tap the previously inaccessible asset class. For more data and analysis on PE's expanding role in professional sports, read our research note: Private Capital in Sports: PE Is Up to Bat | | | | | | | |
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Global Private Market Fundraising Report
Private market funds started the year in good form for a few strategies, buoyed by a postelection surge in optimism for a business-friendly policy shift.
In addition, some GPs may have held off on final closes last year in hopes of attracting capital from LPs with new 2025 allocations.
|  | | Our reports dives deeper into the fortunes of each strategy. | | | |
Optimism may have been premature, however. The uncertainties around global trade have spooked public markets and will be a headwind to fundraising in 2025.
Depressed distributions have also meant that LPs need to make fewer commitments to reach or maintain allocations to private market funds.
Our new report—now featuring data on co-investment funds—breaks down fundraising data by strategy:
Read the free report
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Infrastructure SaaS VC Trends
After a record-setting Q4, VC activity in infrastructure SaaS normalized during the first quarter of the year.
Beneath the top-line totals and an absence of megadeals, DevOps emerged as a standout segment, followed by data software & systems:
Read a free preview
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E-Commerce VC Trends
Despite economic headwinds and tariff uncertainty, Q1 marked a rebound for VC dealmaking in e-commerce enablement, with both deal volume and value rising QoQ.
Notably, activity surged in the purchase medium and horizontal platform segments, while marquee rounds flowed into livestream commerce and personalization:
Read a free preview
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June 2-6: PitchBook is sponsoring SuperReturn in Berlin, where Marina Lukatsky, our head of credit and US PE research, will share data on the state of private credit.
June 11: What does compensation look like at VC and PE firms? Our webinar with J. Thelander Consulting will examine how compensation structures have shifted—and what to expect moving forward. Register here.
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Our insights and data featured in the press:
• How Nvidia "played a central role" in the AI startup boom. [Yahoo Finance]
• PE has seen a sharp drop in fundraising this year. [Bloomberg]
• Hinge Health's IPO may open the door for more digital health startup listings. [Forbes]
• Real estate fundraising inched up in Q1, but struggles remain. [P&I]
If you're a journalist interested in interviewing our analysts or requesting data, contact our PR team.
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| | Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: | | 480 Deals | 2254 People | 719 Companies | 39 Funds | | | | | | |
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