Help: Fund access point
This article lists and defines the fund access points that PitchBook tracks and shows you where to find them.
A fund’s access point is the method by which the fund implements its investment strategy. The access point is a broader category defining the fund’s investment preference in its portfolio. A fund’s additional access point represents the fund’s additional investment preferences.
If you are looking to search for funds more narrowly by the investments they make, you can find this information in the Fund Strategy and Fund Category fields.
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Primary Fund
These are direct investments in portfolio companies.
Secondary Fund
Buying and selling pre-existing investment commitments to private (private equity/venture capital/debt etc.) funds.
Fund of Funds
Investments through several funds into portfolio companies to obtain diversified exposure to private industry.
Co-Investment
Direct investments in portfolio companies alongside other investors. Participants expect higher returns, increased portfolio transparency, high control, and reduced overall fees.
Continuation Vehicles
Also called GP-led secondaries, these are funds that acquire the remaining assets of a previous fund from the same investor. This allows investors to continue to hold their positions in the portfolio companies via the new fund. This type of transaction is often done to extend the life of a fund and to allow the general partners to continue managing the portfolio companies without having to sell them prematurely. PitchBook tracks continuation vehicles; however, they do not have a designated Access Point field. Instead, they commonly come under Primary Funds. See Continuation vehicles in the platform below to learn how these funds are designated.
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This section shows you the major locations in the platform where this term appears. Some terms defined in the Help Center will also appear in other locations that are not included here.
Profiles
You can find the fund’s Access Point and Additional Access Point in the General Information section of fund profiles.
Screeners
You can search for funds by Access Point and Additional Access Point in the Fund Criteria tab of Investors & Funds screeners. You can search for limited partners using the access point of funds they have committed to in the Commitments tab of Limited Partners screeners.
Start with Learn the basics of creating a screener if you are new to PitchBook searches.
Search results
You can find Access Point and Additional Access Point in Investors & Funds search results on the Funds search results tab. They also appear in the Commitments search results tab after running a Limited Partners search.
Download templates
You can find Access Point and Additional Access Point in the Funds or Fund Returns Data download templates from the Investors and Funds search results tabs.
PitchBook Benchmarks
Access Point is one component used in peer groups for fund benchmarking and quartile calculations throughout the platform, including in PitchBook Benchmarks. The access point of a benchmark or peer group and the other peer group criteria are usually listed near the quartile or benchmark statistics.
“PitchBook is the gold standard for data on privately-backed companies and the VC and PE ecosystem. Over the years they have expanded their coverage to provide excellent data on public companies and M&A as well, and have vastly increased the coverage on international companies. The platform is intuitive and easy-to-use and customer service is top-notch.”
Source : G2.com
Screeners
You can search for Continuation Vehicle in the Fund Structure field in the Fund Criteria tab of Investors & Funds screeners. You can also find this field in the Commitments tab of Limited Partners screeners.
Analyst Workspace
To find a current list of continuation funds, visit the Secondaries & Funds of Funds Analyst Workspace. A list of continuation funds created by our analyst team and updated quarterly is located in the Secondaries Searches section.
Secondaries deals
The deal in which an investor rolls a company into a continuation fund can be identified with the following characteristics:
- Deal Synposis field – Includes details about the rollover into the continuation fund.
- Deal Types field
- Buyout/LBO (Deal Type 1), Secondary Buyout (Deal Type 2 or Deal Type 3) – Used when the investor had a majority stake in the company.
- Secondary Transaction - Private – Used when the investor had a minority stake in the company.
- Investors details – Includes the name of the investor that has managed both the original fund and the continuation fund, and includes the name of the continuation fund.
- Sellers/Exiters details – Includes the name of the investor that has managed both the original fund and the continuation fund, and includes the name of the original fund.
You can find and filter for this information on the Deals search results tab. You can also find it in the Deals tab of the company profile, as shown below.
