Private equity fundraising has been on a steady decline over the past three years, and 2025 offers little in the way of optimism. Globally, these funds closed on $407.5 billion in 2025, behind pace of the $611.6 billion raised in 2024, according to PitchBook’s 2025 Annual Global PE First Look.
The number of funds to hold a final close has also dropped sharply. Approximately 540 funds made it over the line, compared with 1,025 in 2024 and 1,680 in 2023.
Recent weeks have seen the launch of several funds considered leaders in their respective strategies, the success of which could reveal a great deal about the state of the fundraising market in 2026. The below have filed Form D fund registration documents with the SEC.
TPG carries flag for impact on 4th Rise fund
At the start of January, TPG registered the fourth in its series of Rise funds, the first fund family designed to deliver “profit-with-purpose” investments at a large scale. While the target of Rise Fund IV has not been disclosed by the New York-listed asset manager, predecessor Fund III raised $2.7 billion by the time it closed to new investors in 2023, a 24% step-up on Fund II.
Fund IV has already received a $200 million commitment from the Washington State Investment Board, which has been an investor since the launch of Rise Fund I in 2017.
The fund family backs businesses aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, based on themes such as climate and conservation, education, financial inclusion and food. In September, Fund III picked up stakes in London-based Tide, which helps small-business owners gain access to banking, and Hala, a digital payments business out of Saudi Arabia.
Impact investing has been under political and legal assault since Fund III held its final close. In June 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a law that prohibits state and local entities from taking environmental, social and governance factors into account when making investments. In 2024, the state of Texas sued BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, arguing they had conspired to push a green agenda at the expense of the coal industry and energy prices in the state.
This seems to have had a chilling effect, with impact fundraising dropping steadily since a peak of $161.4 billion in 2022, according to PitchBook’s 2025 Impact Investing Update. Around $36.7 billion of capital was raised by impact funds during the first three quarters of 2025, down from $82.6 billion in 2024.
successful raise for Rise Fund IV would give a boost to a strategy that was, until recently, all the rage.
Lexington tests LP appetite for booming secondaries
Lexington Partners is one of the largest players in a sector that has boomed in recent years, even as other areas of PE have struggled.
The Franklin Templeton subsidiary’s last flagship secondaries fund, Lexington Capital Partners X, raised $22.7 billion by the time it closed in Q3 2025, making it the second-largest fund dedicated to the strategy and one of the largest PE funds of all time. Fund IX, which closed just six years ago, had an initial size of only $14 billion. Now, it is back on the road with Lexington Capital Partners XI.
In a market that has seen increasing specialization, the firm’s flagship funds do both LP-led deals, which involve acquiring fund positions from investors in PE vehicles, and GP-led deals, where the manager of a fund gives all investors in a vehicle the opportunity to cash out at once.
Most buyers and brokers in the secondary market believe that when the numbers are tallied up, deal volume in 2025 will have exceeded $200 billion, smashing the 2024 record of roughly $162 billion.
Activity has largely been driven by a lackluster exit market, which has reduced the amount of cash that limited partners get back from their PE portfolios, driving them to sell assets to generate liquidity.
Despite the huge numbers involved, secondaries fundraising continues to be outpaced by deal volume. PitchBook’s Q3 2025 Global Private Market Fundraising Report shows that secondaries was the only strategy that saw a decline in available dry powder as of the end of the first quarter of 2025, with the amount available to do deals dropping by 1.3% compared with a year before.
Will Lexington’s funds have room to grow or has a ceiling been reached?
Hillhouse navigates shifting US attitudes to China
Hillhouse Investment Group is back in the market with its sixth flagship fund, targeting at least $7 billion, Reuters reported.
The Hong Kong investment firm raised the largest fund ever by an Asia-based fund manager: its $18 billion Fund V, which closed in 2021 with anchor investments from institutions such as The University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company and Texas Country & District Retirement System, each committing $100 million.
Hillhouse made a name for itself by being an early investor in some of China’s largest companies, including media conglomerate Tencent Holdings and ecommerce business JD.com. This made its funds a popular way for international LPs to gain access to the fast-growing Chinese market.
The attitude of the US towards China has changed since then. In 2023, the Biden administration introduced restrictions on the ability of US investors to invest in the country’s civil and military tech sector. Some global PE firms with Asia-focused funds, such as Blackstone, have even given foreign LPs the option to opt out of any Chinese investments made by their latest funds, The Wall Street Journal reported in April.
The market will be watching how Hillhouse navigates this tricky path.
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