Market Insights
Conditions have been kind to PE returns. Why haven’t portfolios delivered?
Blame the hangover from the 2021 boom.
LATE-STAGE COMPANY RESEARCH
Global Unicorn Tracker: Hold Your Horses
The Q3 2026 Global Unicorn Tracker provides a comprehensive analysis of VC-backed companies valued at $1 billion or more, covering deal activity, valuations, exits, and the Private Business Quality framework and offering perspective on the biggest trends shaping the unicorn landscape.
Anthropic: What the S-1 Proves
This analyst note examines Anthropic’s S-1 filing, evaluating what the disclosure reveals about the company’s financials, valuation, and risks for prospective investors.
Prediction Markets Go Head-to-Head: Raising Estimates on Recent Momentum
This analyst note compares Kalshi’s and Polymarket’s growth, monetization strategies, and valuations as they compete for dominance in the rapidly expanding US prediction market.
The $100 Billion Entry Fee: Can Anyone Still Compete in AI?
This analyst note examines the unit economics of competing at the AI frontier, exploring capital requirements, financing dynamics, and investor returns across the AI value chain.
Q3 FIRST LOOK DASHBOARDS
Our exclusive data shows a PE dealmaking slowdown in the US and Asia-Pacific, as heightened volatility dampened the industry’s mood in Q2. For VC, global data shows strain as broad liquidity remains a challenge. See all the details in our newly released Global VC First Look Dashboard and Global PE First Look Dashboard. PitchBook clients can access the complete, extensive data packs via the Research Center in the PitchBook Platform.
Global PE First Look
Exits, not deals, defined Q3: Realizations approached record highs globally and set an outright record in APAC, while dealmaking moved sideways and fundraising kept sliding.
Global VC First Look
Global venture markets remain in transition. The First Looks are a preliminary release of top-line venture industry figures for the global, US, European, and Asia-Pacific markets, intended as a first-to-market source of key datasets and findings.
TRENDSPOTTING
RESEARCH
Private Equity
Global Fund Performance Report (with preliminary Q2 2026 data)
The Q1 2026 Global Fund Performance Report (with preliminary Q2 2026 data) offers commentary on the salient trends across private fund strategies’ performance.
Global Markets Snapshot
Our Global Markets Snapshot tracks monthly trends in equity, debt, and commodities markets as well as major private market deals, fundraising, IPO performance, lending volume, and unicorn creation.
Venture Capital
US VC Valuations Report
The Q3 2026 US VC Valuations Report delves into the sizes and valuations of the quarter’s US VC deals and examines the most recent returns data, highlighting deals with nontraditional investor participation and examining valuations by select sectors.
US VC Fundraising and Returns Report
The Q3 2026 US VC Fundraising and Returns Report covers US VC fundraising activity and the latest data on fund performance and liquidity.
Credit
US Private Credit Monitor
The US Private Credit Monitor provides a high-level view of private credit market activity. Topics covered include estimated volume and counts, spread distribution, syndicated and direct lending takeouts, and middle market CLO issuance.
European Leveraged Loan Index Monthly Wrap
The European Leveraged Loan Index Monthly Wrap captures the dynamics of both the primary and secondary leveraged loan markets. Commentary and data include detailed analysis of Morningstar European Leveraged Loan Index returns and pricing trends. Topics discussed include Institutional loan issuance, maturity wall breakdowns, market supply/demand dynamics and returns by sector and asset class.
Industry Research
Healthcare Services Report: Headwinds Persist With More Hot Air Out of Washington
The Q3 2026 Healthcare Services Report provides in-depth analysis of industry trends and evolving PE investment strategies, including deals data and maps of key PE-backed companies and investors.
Emerging Tech Research
Where to Allocate in Consumer AI: Robots, App Development, and Multimedia Asset Generation
This analyst note examines which consumer AI categories merit venture allocation, weighing historical exit outcomes, investor depth, and rising entry prices against the exit size needed to return a fund.
Pharma Biotools Report: Frontier Labs Move Into the Lab
The Q3 2026 Pharma Biotools Report provides an analysis of recent VC activity and includes a link to our proprietary market map of leading VC-backed companies in the space.
Quantitative Research
The US VC IPO Backlog Is a Myth
This analyst note examines why the expected surge of VC-backed IPOs from a pent-up backlog is largely a myth, as many companies keep raising private capital and stay private.
PitchBook Private Capital Indexes
The Q2 2026 PitchBook Private Capital Indexes report provides quarterly return benchmarks for each of the seven asset classes in the private market industry.
Analyst Notes
Midterm Election Impact on VC and Tech: Potential Boon for Defense, Light Touch on AI
A Republican election sweep would drive defense spending to $1.5 trillion and accelerate M&A. Democrats winning would trigger AI hearings and QSBS tax scrutiny.
US VC Secondary Market Watch
This analyst note examines the US VC secondary market past its peak, exploring how shifting liquidity dynamics are reshaping platforms, trading patterns, and retail investor access.
Europe
Sweden Market Snapshot
The Q3 2026 Sweden Market Snapshot provides an overview of macroeconomic and microeconomic trends in the region spanning both private and public markets.
Germany Market Snapshot
The Q3 2026 Germany Market Snapshot provides an overview of macroeconomic and microeconomic trends in the region spanning both private and public markets.
APAC
Greater China Private Capital Breakdown
The 2026 Greater China Private Capital Breakdown spans datasets covering Greater China’s VC and PE deals by sector and region, as well as exit and fundraising activity.
India Private Capital Breakdown
The 2026 India Private Capital Breakdown examines the region’s PE and VC markets and analyzes recent events’ impacts on these spaces.
NEWS
Private Equity
CVC Capital Partners secondaries MD to join William Blair
Moves from the PE funds to investment banks are becoming less rare as exits—and carried interest checks—get pushed further into the future.
US public alternative asset manager earnings dashboard: Q3 2026
A look at performance, capital flows, and perpetual capital growth across the publicly traded alternative asset managers in Q3 2026.
Credit
CCC Intelligent Solutions ends year-long LBO loan hiatus for software borrowers
The deal looks to benefit from what the borrower says is low AI disintermediation risk in the insurance market.
Cedacri’s €980M bond refinancing restricts merger with ION’s Cerved, Prelios
The restriction in the primary bond documentation for the new offering appears to rule out a rumoured three-way tie-up between Cedacri, Cerved and Prelios that bankers and investors said would have helped struggling Cerved refinance at lower rates.
Technology
Midterms rattle data centre bets that powered US infra funds past Europe
The gap between the performances of North American and European infrastructure vehicles widened to 9.5 points.
Physical AI’s data boom is a race to get out of the data business
There’s an expiration date on the lucrative business of selling data to robot makers.
Allocators
University of Illinois has underperformed. The endowment’s explanations are incomplete, academics argue.
Researchers estimate the endowment would be about $771 million larger had it matched its benchmark. The foundation has blamed legacy private investments and a leadership overhaul.
University endowment return tracker
See investment returns for the 50 largest university endowments in the US.
Europe
ICG stays away from direct AI and most CVs
The firm also remains cautious on France until the election.
Three deals carry French PE as deal count hits lowest since 2020
Bifurcation expected to continue ahead of presidential election
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