Help: How to use PitchBook Benchmarks

Overview

Quickly discover the fund performance data you need using PitchBook’s Benchmarks. Use this feature to evaluate benchmarks across multiple asset classes, view their underlying funds, and identify their key metrics. Our new benchmarking experience is fueled by the largest universe of private market data, providing you with the granularity you need to make your investment decisions confidently. This article defines the fields available in the tool and walks you through how to leverage this data.

Methodology

For an in-depth look into the methodology behind PitchBook Benchmarks, a PDF can be accessed within the tool by hovering over the i icon next to PitchBook Benchmarks at the top of the page or through the Methodology link in the upper right-hand corner.

Data extension

Due to a lag in reporting for some funds and liquidation causing older funds to cease reporting, we will pull forward cash multiples and IRR information from previous quarters under the following stipulations:

• We extend cash multiples and IRR after five years since fund inception if the reported NAV was less than 5% of commitments.

  • Rationale: This is to capture returns that were finalized or nearly finalized in a relatively short time span and that are at least at the end of a standard investment period.

• If the fund is older than eight years as of the last known IRR, we extend forward the last reported IRR through the most recent quarter-end.

  • Rationale: Generally, we find a high correlation between fund IRR after year eight and eventual, fully realized performance, so we allow returns to extend even if we have not captured more recent data.

• For cash multiples, this forward extension is done if the most recent multiple reported is at least 12 years old.

  • Rationale: Beyond year 12 the fund is likely liquidated or close to fully liquidated.

• For funds that are less than five years old since inception or are less than eight years old with NAV greater than 5% of commitments, we extend cash multiples and IRRs from up to one prior quarter if available.

  • Rationale: Fluctuations from quarter-to-quarter in fund returns are generally minor, so to round out a full dataset we pull forward returns available from the prior quarter (a minority of cases).

Benchmark research reports

Inform your benchmarking strategies with our PitchBook Benchmarks report and Global Fund Performance report created by our PitchBook Institutional Research Group (PIRG). These quarterly produced reports will help you better understand fund performance related to broader asset classes and other private market strategies. You can access these reports from our Research Center.

Getting started

Once you are on the PitchBook Benchmark’s Overview tab, there are eight different groups of benchmarks to explore:

• All Private Capital
• Private Equity
• Venture Capital
• Private Debt
• Real Estate
• Real Assets
• Funds of Funds
• Secondaries

Viewing PitchBook Benchmarks

You can view these groups of benchmarks in two formats by clicking on the corresponding tabs: Overview or All Benchmarks.

The Overview provides a birds-eye view of the PitchBook Benchmarks, so you can quickly identify a benchmark’s performance based on its fund strategy and vintage. The All Benchmarks view gives a more detailed, line-by-line look at each benchmark’s key characteristics. These pre-built benchmarks help save you time searching for the right criteria so that you can identify top performers quickly.

You can also create your own custom benchmark instead. Check out our Creating Custom Benchmarks and Benchmark Comparisons article if you’d like to handpick the funds within your benchmark.

Filtering PitchBook Benchmarks

Use the Metric, End vintage, and Data as of filters found above the PitchBook Benchmarks to tailor the benchmarks to your liking. Filtering by IRR, TVPI, DPI, RVPI, or reporting period will alter all the benchmarks on the page.

You can filter the benchmarks by vintage year, access point, fund strategy, fund location, benchmark fund size, and data as of from the All Benchmarks view. Use the Include Non-qualified Benchmarks toggle to include or exclude benchmarks PitchBook considers outside of our benchmark qualification criteria. To learn more about qualified benchmarks, hover over the i next to the toggle.

Recently viewed benchmarks

To return to any benchmark you were previously exploring, click on Recently Viewed Benchmarks at the top of any benchmarks page. This section will expand to show the benchmarks you last viewed so you can easily continue where you left off.

Viewing benchmark profiles

Benchmark profiles provide you with a detailed look into each benchmark group. Here you can view targeted metrics, underlying funds, and individual funds’ performance data.

Previewing a profile

Hover over any benchmark tile from the Overview tab to get a preview of the benchmark’s key criteria. Click on the tile to dive into the benchmark’s profile and learn more.

Evaluating a profile’s chart and metrics

The benchmark profile allows you to visualize a specific benchmark’s fund performance and filter it based on reporting data and various metrics.

Use the Data as of filter on the top right of the profile to change the reporting date of the box and whiskers chart, metrics table, and constituent funds. To alter the box and whiskers performance chart individually, use the Metric filter to visualize the data by IRR, TVPI, DPI, and RVPI. The chart defaults to display all the constituent funds in the benchmark; however, you can use the Plot Funds feature to select up to five funds within the benchmark to focus on.

Assessing constituent funds and all peers

Take a closer look at all the funds that make up the benchmark in the Constituent Funds and All Peers tables. Click on any fund on this list to view its fund profile and investments.

• Constituent Funds – Funds that meet all of the benchmark criteria (i.e., Vintage, Access Point, Fund Category, Fund Location and Fund Size) and PitchBook’s benchmarking methodology.
• All Peers – All Funds with and without requisite performance data that meet all of the benchmark criteria (i.e., Vintage, Access Point, Fund Category, Fund Location and Fund Size) regardless of PitchBook’s benchmarking methodology.

Comparing with related benchmarks

Use the Related Benchmarks section to explore benchmarks similar to the one you are viewing. Switch between the Strategy, Location, and Size tabs to identify the different benchmarks you’d like to evaluate next. For example, on the Location tab, you can look at benchmarks with all the same key criteria as the profile you are on, but with different fund locations.

Customizing a benchmark

If you’d like to create a customized benchmark, you can generate this from PitchBook Benchmarks as well. To create a benchmark from scratch, start by selecting the New Custom Benchmark button on the right side of the screen from the Overview tab.

If you’d prefer to make alterations to one of our pre-formed PitchBook Benchmarks, select Customize Benchmark at the top of the benchmark profile.

Either option will open the Create a Custom Benchmark menu. Here, you can choose the vintage year, access point, fund strategy, fund location, and fund size you’d like. You’ll notice you also have the flexibility to select multiple vintage years and aggregate fund vintages if you’d like to see the charts and metrics across a range of vintages, rather than broken down by vintage. Click Create to generate your benchmark.

Your customized benchmark’s page will be similar to a pre-made benchmark’s profile, which you can learn more about in Evaluating a profile’s chart and metrics and Assessing constituent funds and all peers sections. However, you can name and save your custom benchmark for future use.

You can edit your custom benchmark anytime by selecting the Modify Benchmark Criteria button and adjusting your criteria.

From Funds search results

You can also create a custom benchmark directly from the Funds search results tab of an Investors & Funds screener. Click the Go button next to View as Custom Benchmark, and the funds from your search will automatically populate your new benchmark.

Once on your custom benchmark, you can click View details to see any funds that were excluded due to PitchBook’s benchmarking methodology.

Adding and removing funds from a benchmark

Additionally, you can customize any benchmark by adding or removing individual funds. Click on the Add Peer Funds button in either the Constituent Funds or All Peers tabs to search for funds to apply to your benchmark.

To remove a fund, select the checkbox next to the fund name and click the x icon. To remove multiple funds at once, select multiple checkboxes and click Remove Selected.

Saving your custom benchmarks

Once you’ve created a custom benchmark, it will save automatically. You can revisit it anytime within the My Saved Benchmarks tab. Here, you’ll see the benchmarks you’ve created and their key criteria. If you’d like to delete a benchmark, hover over the right side of its row and click the trash can icon.

Sharing benchmarks

To share a benchmark profile or custom benchmark with colleagues on the platform, click the Share button on the top right of the page. In the pop-up, you can choose to share the profile via email or with a link. Clicking the link icon to the right of the Share button directs you to the Copy Link feature. By clicking this button, your search link will be copied to your clipboard and will be immediately ready for you to paste and share.

Downloading benchmarks

After evaluating the PitchBook Benchmarks you need, it’s time to begin actioning your insights and sharing your findings with your team. You can download a Benchmark profile or a Custom Benchmark profile by clicking the Download button in the upper right corner and selecting a file type. You can download a Benchmark profile to Excel or PDF, and you can download a custom benchmark to Excel. When downloading to Excel, you’ll receive a list of all constituent funds in the profile. When downloading to PDF, you’ll receive the full benchmark profile, including charts.

Additional resources

Towards the end of a benchmark profile or the All Benchmarks tab, you’ll find the PitchBook Benchmarking Methodology section and a Terms and Definitions section. These sections provide important context about this feature without leaving the page.

This section briefly explains the key sourcing and calculation details that go into our PitchBook Benchmarks.

This section defines the fundamental terms used in this tool.

Helpful links

To understand how this feature fits into a broader workflow, check out the PitchBook Pioneer course - GP Workflows.