Key themes included the rise of global infrastructure fundraising and heightened investor conviction toward private credit allocations

Preqin, a part of BlackRock, released the latest editions of its Global report series, offering exclusive data and market intelligence across Private Equity, Private Credit, Infrastructure, Real Estate, and Venture Capital. These reports consolidate Preqin’s most impactful research from the year, highlighting key trends from 2025 in addition to forward-looking analysis and predictions for each private markets asset class, making them a recognized resource for industry insights.

This year’s reports deliver sharp, data-driven perspectives with the goal of empowering private market participants with the clarity and confidence to seize opportunities and navigate challenges—including market volatility, regulatory shifts, fundraising headwinds, valuation uncertainty, and evolving investor demands.

Key Takeaways Across Private Markets

• Private Equity: Secondaries Fundraising Surge With Liquidity In Focus
  
  Global private equity fundraising reached $507bn in Q1–Q3 2025 (73% of 2024’s total), with secondaries funds accounting for 15% of fundraising—nearly double the five-year average—as more investors look for solutions offering liquidity and the potential for discounted, return-enhancing opportunities.
• Private Credit: Europe’s Share Jumps as Direct Lending Leads
  
  Funds targeting Europe captured 46% of fundraising in Q1–Q3 2025, up from 23% in 2024. Direct lending dominated with 61.5% of capital raised. Distressed and special situations strategies gained momentum, signaling increasing interest toward higher-yield opportunities.
• Infrastructure: Mega-Funds Drive Record Fundraising
  
  Aggregate capital raised surged 70% year-on-year in Q1–Q3 2025, making it the only asset class to surpass the full-year 2024 total in this period. The asset class has delivered annualized returns of between 9% and 11% over one-, three-, and five-years ending June 2025, emerging as a top performer within private markets in recent years.
• Real Estate: Fundraising Rebounds, Opportunistic Strategies Shine
  
  Global real estate fundraising hit $127bn in Q1–Q3 2025, nearly matching 2024’s full-year total. North America’s share of global real estate deal value rose in Q1-Q3 2025, driven by faster deal closings amid expectations of interest rate cuts.
• Venture Capital: AI Dominates Deal Flow Despite Fundraising Headwinds
  
  AI accounted for over 50% of aggregate VC deal value in Q1–Q3 2025, where venture capital is a key avenue to gain access to this emerging technology. Exit activity improved—$171bn through Q3 2025, the highest since 2021—but fundraising remains sluggish at $64.4bn by the same period, 48% of 2024’s total.

Private Markets Investor Outlook & Predictions

The Preqin Global Reports include an analysis of trends in market sentiment measured by Preqin’s proprietary survey of 435 institutional participants,* including fund managers and LPs. Additionally, the reports provide predictions for each asset class.

• Private Equity: The asset class is expected to outperform public markets over the long-term due to its ability to support high-performing businesses. However, in the short term, 80% of surveyed investors identified exits as one of their top concerns for the next 12 months.
• Private Credit: 81% of investors plan to maintain or increase their allocations to private credit in the next 12 months, while distressed and asset-backed lending forecasted to be fastest-growing strategies.
• Infrastructure: 40% of investors plan to increase commitments in the next 12 months, with Western Europe leading attractiveness, as the asset class ranks highest on the Investor Sentiment Index** (according to the June 2025 investor survey).
• Real Estate: Investors remain cautious (30% plan to reduce commitments; 27% plan to increase), yet Europe and APAC are set to lead the real estate recovery in 2026. Interest rates remain a dominant concern for investors over the next 12 months, cited by 64% of respondents, despite the start of an easing cycle.
• Venture Capital: AI remains the dominant theme for 2026, alongside fintech and healthtech; fundraising challenges persist despite an improving exit environment.

Please get in touch if you are a full-time member of the press and would like to receive a full copy of any of the reports. For any media requests, please contact press@preqin.com

Notes to the editors

* Survey results from November 2025

** The Investor Sentiment Index is a quantitative measure, calculated and published by Preqin based on their proprietary investor surveys. It highlights how investors plan to adjust their private market commitments in the coming year, based on survey results from the previous year.

About Preqin Insights+

Preqin Insights+ is Preqin’s premium research subscription, designed to turn proprietary private markets data into actionable intelligence.

The Preqin Global Reports are available for Preqin Insights+ subscribers. To download a free summary of the 2026 Global Reports, register your details.

About Preqin, a part of BlackRock

Preqin empowers financial professionals who invest in or allocate to private markets with essential data and insights, supporting them throughout the entire investment lifecycle. Preqin has pioneered rigorous methods of collecting private data for over 20 years and enables more than 200,000 professionals globally to streamline how they raise capital, source deals and investments, understand performance, and stay informed. Acquired by BlackRock in 2025, Preqin complements the firm’s Aladdin technology platform to provide investment solutions for the whole portfolio. For more information visit www.preqin.com.

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