Also: Most popular research of H1; a look at the roofing sector; Ukraine's defense tech ecosystem...
July 4, 2026  |  Log in   |  Read online   |  Manage your subscription  
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The Research Pitch

First Looks: Our Q2 data got a facelift, and it’s now available across interactive dashboards covering global private markets, the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Check them out for VC and PE.

Next wave: The shift to agentic AI is sparking a massive margin super-cycle. Our new report explores the latest PE deal trends and provides executable frameworks for evaluating your portfolio’s agentic readiness. Read it here.

AI, defense, and $1.5 trillion. Where do sustainable investors stand?
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By Hilary Wiek, CFA, CAIA
Principal Analyst, Fund Strategies

Private climate-investing funds have crossed $1.5 trillion in AUM. Impact fundraising surged in 2025 after two years of decline. Despite the headlines, sustainable investing is growing.

Amid a period of intense global change, the field has never faced more unresolved questions.

Take this one, introduced in our 7th annual Sustainable Investment Survey:

Which statement do you most identify with in assessing AI in the context of sustainable investing?

  • AI will ultimately be a net positive for sustainable investing: Its ability to solve data and measurement problems will outweigh its environmental costs.
  • AI represents a net negative for sustainable investing at this time: Its energy and water demands undermine the sustainability objectives it is being asked to serve.

The industry is divided on this topic. We want to know how divided and why.

We are also asking global practitioners questions such as: Where are sustainable investors drawing the line on defense investments post-Ukraine? Which regulatory frameworks are actually changing behavior, and which are being quietly waited out? Are LPs genuinely using ESG as a hard investment filter when allocating to GPs?

Whether you call what you do ESG, responsible investing, Impact, or nothing at all, we want to hear from you. The survey takes fewer than 15 minutes, responses are anonymous, and every completed survey generates a $5 donation to World Central Kitchen.

Take the survey →

H1’S MOST POPULAR RESEARCH

AI, upheaval, and reinvention have defined 2026 so far. These are the reports that readers like you engaged with most.

  • Clash of the Titans: Incumbents Versus Challengers in the Age of Agentic AI
    Argues enterprise SaaS is splitting into AI-embedded incumbents and AI-native challengers, outlining where durable value and defensible moats are emerging for investors.
  • SaaS Is Dead, Long Live SaS
    Reframes the “SaaS-pocalypse” as a pivot to “service as software,” where agentic AI sells outcomes instead of seats.
  • Mapping the AI Super-Cycle
    Introduces a 25-layer AI investment stack mapping capital flows as enterprises shift to “work as a service.”
Q2 2026 Mapping the AI super-cycle@2x.png

  • Private Equity’s Exposure to the Software Reckoning
    Quantifies PE’s software exposure and weighs whether AI-driven valuation compression signals risk or opportunity.
  • Ranking the AI Giants: A New Framework for the Frontier Five
    A deep dive into the most consequential private AI companies that introduces a framework for evaluating them across five dimensions that determine long-term value creation.
  • SpaceX Initiation Report: When Venus and Jupiter Align
    A bottom-up financial model offering a granular, independent look at the company’s financials as it prepared for the largest IPO in history.

  • 2030 Private Market Horizons
    Forecasts global private capital AUM reaching nearly $27 trillion by 2030, with evergreen structures reshaping capital formation.
Private capital AUM forecast@2x.png

  • Evergreen Funds: We Have Questions
    Discusses the questions institutional and retail investors should be considering as they think through and diligence evergreen funds.
  • Q1 2026 US Evergreen Fund Landscape
    Sizes the $520 billion-plus evergreen market and examines interval fund mechanics, redemption gating, and credit risks.
  • Mega IPOs Could Threaten 2026 IPO Class
    Examines how SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic listings could unlock or crowd out VC liquidity.
THEMATIC RESEARCH

Have You Paid Attention to the Roofing Sector?

In April 2026, QXO announced its acquisition of TopBuild at 14.9x 2025 adjusted EBITDA, setting a clear reference point for what a strategic acquirer will pay for a scaled commercial roofing platform.