Market Insights
Middle-market PE firms move down market in search of value
Deals between $25 million and $100 million increased in value by 70% in Q2, while activity in every other size bucket contracted or stalled.
UK Private Capital Breakdown
The 2026 UK Private Capital Breakdown examines the region’s PE and VC markets and analyzes recent events’ impacts on these spaces.
Southern Europe Private Capital Breakdown
The 2026 Southern Europe Private Capital Breakdown examines the region’s PE and VC markets and analyzes recent events’ impacts on these spaces.
APAC Private Capital Breakdown
The H1 2026 APAC Private Capital Breakdown examines the region’s PE and VC markets in Greater China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.
Germany Market Snapshot
The Q2 2026 Germany Market Snapshot provides an overview of macroeconomic and microeconomic trends in the region spanning both private and public markets.
Australia & New Zealand Private Capital Breakdown
The 2026 Australia & New Zealand Private Capital Breakdown examines the region’s PE and VC markets and analyzes recent events’ impacts on these spaces.
LATE-STAGE COMPANY RESEARCH
Global Unicorn Tracker: The One-Horned Market
The Q2 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 PitchBook Business Quality framework and offering perspective on the biggest trends shaping the unicorn landscape.
Anthropic Is Winning on Value, Not Price
This analyst note argues that pricing AI models by completed tasks rather than token cost reveals a different competitive picture, with implications for buyers and providers.
OpenAI: Waiting for $1 Trillion
This analyst note examines OpenAI’s IPO delay as a valuation signal, and its implications for Anthropic’s IPO timing and the broader AI IPO pipeline.
TRENDSPOTTING
US investors have increased their participation in clubs across Europe’s Big 5 soccer leagues, with roughly 40% of all teams in those leagues having a US investor. The English Premier League leads the way, with more than two-thirds of clubs having a US investor.
See more: Every PE connection to Europe’s top football clubs
RESEARCH
Private Equity
MENA Private Capital Breakdown
The H1 2026 MENA Private Capital Breakdown examines the region’s PE and VC markets and analyzes recent events’ impacts on these spaces.
Global Private Market Fundraising Report
The Q2 2026 Global Private Market Fundraising Report offers a definitive review of the private market fund landscape with fundraising, cash flow, dry powder, and AUM data across geographies and seven strategies, including private equity and venture capital.
Venture Capital
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.
Five Years After APAC’s VC Boom, What Has Become of Its Companies?
This analyst note explores why most of the over 24,000 APAC companies funded during the 2020 to 2021 VC boom remain active and private—but stuck. We track the boom-era cohort through the market reset.
Credit
US Private Credit and Middle Market Weekly Wrap
The US Private Credit & Middle Market Weekly Wrap highlights the latest activity in the private credit asset class, including in-depth stories, complemented by data on middle-market deals.
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.
Industry Research
Construction & Engineering Report: Datacenters Take Center Stage
The Q2 2026 Construction & Engineering 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.
Aerospace & Defense Report: More Deals, Smaller Check Sizes
The Q2 2026 Aerospace & Defense 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
Chips & Datacenters Report: Upon This Rock, I Will Build My Datacenter
The Q2 2026 Chips & Datacenters 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.
Robotics & Physical AI Report: The Money Is in the Motion
The Q2 2026 Robotics & Physical AI 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
Private Capital Return Barometers
The Private Capital Return Barometers provide a data-driven, factor-based assessment of US private market fund performance, offering timely estimates of quarterly returns and insights into market conditions across asset classes.
Quantitative Perspectives: US Market Insights
The Q3 2026 Quantitative Perspectives: US Market Insights report examines how private capital markets are navigating macro volatility and persistent liquidity constraints.
Analyst Notes
Stripe’s $8 Billion OpenRouter Deal: M&A Beats IPOs for AI Exits
This analyst note examines why M&A, rather than IPOs, is emerging as the primary exit path for AI startups and what this shift means for acquirer dynamics, VC fund returns, and capital concentration.
IPOs Are Not Dead but Demoted
This analyst note explores how AI-driven private valuation inflation and widening public-private pricing gaps have structurally shifted when and why VC-backed companies go public.
Europe
European VC Valuations Report
The Q2 2026 European VC Valuations Report delves into the sizes and valuations of European venture deals.
Europe’s IPO Window Stays Wide as Backlog Narrows
This analyst note examines Europe’s IPO recovery in 2026, noting favorable market conditions alongside a shrinking pipeline of high-quality listing candidates.
APAC
Five Years After APAC’s VC Boom, What Has Become of Its Companies?
This analyst note explores why most of the over 24,000 APAC companies funded during the 2020 to 2021 VC boom remain active and private—but stuck. We track the boom-era cohort through the market reset.
APAC Private Capital Breakdown
The H1 2026 APAC Private Capital Breakdown examines the region’s PE and VC markets in Greater China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.
NEWS
Private Equity
Private credit loses its edge in the battle for PE borrowers
A steady stream of retail redemptions is hamstringing large direct lenders, creating an opening for banks and the broadly syndicated market.
SEC’s proposed scrapping of the ‘pay-to-play rule’ draws divided response
Industry watchdogs question the full rescission of a rule introduced after a spate of corruption scandals involving PE professionals and public pension plans.
Credit
Utz Quality Foods sets price talk for $1.1B TLB; commitments due Sept. 16
Price talk for the seven-year covenant-lite TLB is S+350, with a 0% floor and an OID of 99-99.5.
Tether launches $400M crypto-backed private credit JV, targets $3B fundraise
Fasanara Capital, based in London, will be the investment manager of the fund and will target short-duration, asset-backed credit strategies.
Technology
Which AI companies are governments betting on?
Ranking the top 10 government-backed AI startups by capital raised.
Mistral raises €3B to bet big on sovereign AI
The record VC round comes amid a strategic pivot for the French AI company.
Allocators
Thoma Bravo hires new Asia head
Ken S. Park joins from HIG Capital, where he led the PE firm’s Asia fundraising operation across PE, credit, real estate and infrastructure.
In a stalled exit market, sponsors are consolidating their way out
The head of European PE investments at Schroders Capital discusses why buy-and-build is doing double duty in a slow exit market, and why AI adoption is still more talk than action.
Europe
European football’s private market connections
Investors have pushed into the niche asset class, snapping up stakes in multiple teams at a time when many clubs are in financial straits from pandemic-era losses.
A new wave of VC funds bets on female founders
Several European funds have closed or launched to back female founders, who are currently experiencing a surge in investment.
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