Investor types
Investor types in private markets
How each type of professional investor allocates capital, what it looks for and how companies and fund managers approach it.
Private equity and venture
Private equity firms
Reference guide to private equity firms: scale in 2025 and 2026, structures, sources of capital, deal sizes, exits, regulation and adviser roles.
Investor typePrivate equity funds
How private equity funds work: limited partnership structures, fundraising in 2025 and 2026, minimum commitments, continuation funds and regulation.
Investor typeVenture capital firms
Reference guide to venture capital firms: global and regional funding in 2025, round sizes, AI concentration, fundraising, exits and 2026 trends.
Investor typeFunds of funds
How private markets funds of funds select managers, what they charge, why fundraising fell and how SMAs, secondaries and co-investment changed the model.
Corporate investors
Industrial and strategic acquirers
How industrial and strategic acquirers buy companies: global M&A value in 2025, megadeals, AI-driven deals, merger control, 2026 trends and sale processes.
Investor typeCorporate investors and corporate venture capital
Reference guide to corporate investors and corporate venture capital: funding and deal counts, regional split, structures, AI focus, examples and trends.
Asset and wealth managers
Asset managers
Reference guide to asset managers: global and UK assets under management, ownership, passive share, the move into private markets and 2025 trends.
Investor typeWealth managers
How wealth managers differ from private banks, the size of the UK and Swiss markets, how fund research teams select private market funds and 2026 trends.
Investor typeHedge funds
How hedge funds work: US$5.64tn of capital at end-Q3 2026, strategies, structures, allocator due diligence, regulation, named managers and inflows by size.
Banks and lenders
Banks
How banks lend to, advise and invest in private companies and funds, and how Basel III, CRR3, PRA and Volcker rules shape their appetite in 2026.
Investor typePrivate credit funds and non-bank lenders
How private credit funds and non-bank lenders work: US$4.1tn of assets at end-2025, strategies, investors, credit process, AIFMD II rules and managers.
Investor typeStructured credit investors
How structured credit investors buy CLO, ABS, RMBS and CMBS tranches: record 2025 CLO issuance, European volumes, risk retention, EU reform and managers.
Institutional investors
Endowments, foundations and charities
How endowments, foundations and charities invest in private markets: FY2025 NACUBO allocations, Swiss foundation data, spending rules and examples.
Investor typePension funds
How defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds invest in private markets, with 2025 asset data and UK, Swiss and EU rules on allocations.
Investor typeInsurance companies
How life, non-life and reinsurance companies invest in private credit and private equity, with EIOPA 2025 data, Solvency II charges and balance sheets.
Investor typeSovereign wealth funds
How sovereign wealth funds invest in private markets: 2025 and 2026 assets, Gulf and Asian funds, deal volumes, ticket sizes, governance and co-investment.
Families and private wealth
Single family offices
How single family offices are structured, how many exist by region, how they invest in private markets and how decisions are made, with cited sources.
Investor typeMulti-family offices
How multi-family offices differ from single family offices and wealth managers, how large the sector is, how they are regulated and who the largest are.
Investor typePrivate banks
How private banks are structured, the size of the main booking centres, how they approve private market funds and the 2025 and 2026 trends, with sources.
Real assets
Real estate investors
Who institutional real estate investors are, the size of the professionally managed property market, the main strategies and the 2025 and 2026 trends.
Investor typeProperty developer families
How family-owned property groups are structured, fund their development pipelines and take institutional partners, with Grosvenor and Cadogan figures.
Investor typeHospitality investors and hotel operators
How hotel owners, brand companies and operators invest: market size, deal sizes, decision factors, 2025 and 2026 trends, named owners and advisers.
Investor typeInfrastructure investors
How infrastructure investors raise and deploy capital: record 2025 fundraising, strategies, deal sizes, diligence, regulation and the largest managers.