2025 Q3 Private Markets Report (NEPC)

Summary

• U.S. buyout fundraising reached $214 billion thus far in 2025, down 41% from $360 billion in 2024.p.2
• Year-to-date U.S. private equity exit value reached $472 billion, surpassing the total of $377 billion in 2024.p.3
• Venture capital firms raised $45 billion across 376 funds in the first nine months of 2025.p.5
• Private credit fundraising surpassed $100 billion in the first half of 2025.p.8
• Non-core real estate equity funds raised just under $55 billion through June 30, 2025.p.11
• Infrastructure transaction volumes exceeded $1 trillion year-to-date, putting the sector on track for its highest year on record.p.14

Key insights

1. Slower exit activity has prompted general partners to rely heavily on continuation vehicles, secondary sales, and credit restructurings for portfolio liquidity.p.1
2. Electronic Arts entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired in an all-cash leveraged buyout valuing the company at $55 billion.p.2
3. Mega-exits represented 77% of total year-to-date U.S. private equity exit value.p.3
4. Valuations in the artificial intelligence and machine learning sector accounted for 64% of total venture deal value year-to-date.p.5
5. Dry powder dedicated to venture capital secondaries nearly doubled from its 2021 peak to $8.2 billion as of December 31, 2024.p.5
6. In the third quarter of 2025, 57% of sponsor-backed direct lending deals closed at sub-500 basis points spreads.p.8
7. Global private credit dry powder reached $542.7 billion as of June 30, 2025.p.9
8. RXR Realty acquired 590 Madison Avenue for $1.1 billion, marking the largest New York City office transaction since 2018.p.11
9. Morgan Stanley estimates a 36-gigawatt shortfall in power supply for U.S. data centers by 2028.p.13