|
|
| Good afternoon. In today's Daily Pitch, we look at how evergreen funds have swelled to nearly $500 billion and try to get our heads around the sheer size of SpaceX’s impending IPO. Also: The gaming market scored $1 billion in VC funding in Q3, our sector report finds. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Behind the surge: Evergreen funds near $500B |
|
By Zane Carmean, Director of Quantitative Research
Evergreen funds have amassed nearly $500 billion in net assets, and growth doesn't appear to be slowing much.
For years, the private investment world has been dominated by institutions and the ultra-wealthy. However, lately, there has been a rapid rise in the accessibility of private assets for those lower on the wealth curve.
Adoption is driven by a confluence of factors.
First, technology and distribution platforms have made it easier than ever to access and manage private capital portfolios. Additionally, regulatory changes in the works are likely to broaden access, while the shrinking roster of listed companies has led investors and wealth advisers to seek differentiated return sources outside public markets.
Couple that with multi-year fundraising headwinds among the legacy base of institutional investors, and general partners have been searching for new sources of capital and creating new structures to meet their growing clientele.
Enter evergreen funds, which include unlisted business development companies and REITs, as well as 40 Act interval and tender offer funds.
Since 2022, the number of active evergreen vehicles in the US has grown from fewer than 300 to more than 500, and the net AUM of these vehicles has nearly doubled from less than $250 billion to $493 billion. There has been particularly rapid growth in the credit, private equity and infrastructure categories over the past few years. |
|
In our inaugural report, the Q4 2025 Evergreen Fund Landscape, we have teamed up with our Morningstar Manager Research colleagues to explore the key trends and data driving the ongoing evergreen evolution in private markets.
Inside, you'll find the latest on net assets by strategy focus, fund flows, returns, and fees. We also spotlight the growing universe of infrastructure-focused evergreen funds across US and Europe, providing insights into their portfolios and playbooks.
Be on the lookout for future quarterly editions in your inbox, as we'll be expanding the datasets and structures included in our coverage throughout 2026. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| A message from Alvarez & Marsal |
|
|
| A year of recalibration and resilience: European private equity in 2025 |
|
Private equity funds have had to be resilient through rising geopolitical tensions, the shock from US tariffs and several years of subdued deal flow and limited exits.
But as 2025 comes to a close, European private equity is showing signs of stability.
A&M’s Private Equity Performance Improvement team has seen firsthand how the PE market has recalibrated this year. A&M has helped clients find new sources of growth, expand margins through operational efficiency and navigate market volatility in large-scale, complex transformations.
In this review of the year, A&M shares its reflections, learnings and achievements across the following topics:
- Portfolio company transformation
- Integrated due diligence
- AI use cases in PE
- Finance transformation
Click to read more |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
• PE exit activity in Europe's DACH region is on track for a record year, driven by stabilizing valuations and improved financing, as more than half of deal value is attributed to exits to other funds. Read more
• Medline's $6B IPO is one of the largest PE-backed debuts in the US this year, a sign investors are hungry after months of market volatility. Find out more
• The gaming market scored $1 billion in VC funding in Q3, up more than 10% quarter-over-quarter, as overall dealmaking continued to slide. Read the report |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| 8 Facebook IPOs: 5 numbers showing the scale of a SpaceX debut |
|
By Rosie Bradbury, Sr. VC Reporter
SpaceX, Elon Musk's high-flying private space company and manufacturer of Starlink, is reportedly planning a public offering for 2026.
Such a liquidity event would blow the last few years of exits out of the water and distribute liquidity to shareholders at outsized levels. SpaceX is expecting to raise well over $30 billion in a public offering, Bloomberg reported.
To put the IPO into context:
1. Facebook's IPO, eight times over
Facebook's 2012 IPO raised $16 billion at a $65 billion pre-money valuation. At the time, it was the largest technology IPO in American history.
But it'd look paltry next to SpaceX's IPO. In today's dollars, Facebook's IPO came in at a pre-money valuation of $91.9 billion, less than an eighth of the space tech company's current valuation. |
|
2. Apple's market cap when it released the iPhone 7
In 2016, Apple released the iPhone 7, the first generation of AirPods and the second generation of the Apple Watch. That's also when its market capitalization hit the $600 billion mark, which is just over $800 billion in today's dollars.
3. The combined net worths of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Bill Gates
The combined net worths of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is $731 billion, per Forbes.
Elon Musk's net worth has already climbed to over $600 billion with SpaceX's latest valuation.
4. The value of Lehman Brothers' mortgage-backed securities portfolio in 2008, in today's dollars, times six
When Lehman Brothers shocked the financial world by defaulting in 2008, the scale of its mortgage-backed securities business came under a microscope. In the lead-up to the mortgage crisis, Lehman amassed a portfolio of over $85 billion in mortgage-backed securities, which eventually led to the bank's downfall.
5. The Yale endowment's cumulative gains during David Swensen's tenure, 13 times over
David Swensen's time at Yale is legendary: His unusual bets on venture capital proved extremely lucrative and ushered in a massive revolution in institutional portfolio management.
During his 36-year tenure, the Yale endowment logged $57.6 billion in gains, with an average annualized return of 13.7%. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Smart reads that caught our eye.
• Inside China's semiconductor chip "Manhattan Project": A team in Shenzhen has constructed a machine that can produce the coveted AI chips. [Reuters]
• Blue Owl is getting cold feet about one of its data center investments. Construction of Oracle | | | | | | |
