For the fourth year in a row, private equity fundraising was hard going in 2025, as many institutional LPs remained mired in illiquidity.
With more than 3,800 funds active in the North American market, capital raised totaled $403 billion at the finish of the September, down 15 percent from a year earlier, according to Buyouts data. Fund closings were also fewer, though the decline was less sharp than in prior years.
But as Buyouts reported in October, there might be a silver lining in YTD 2025’s grim statistics. For the first time since 2022, time spent on the road by fund sponsors dipped – to an average of 18.5 months from last year’s all-time high of 20.8 months.
If this downward trfinish holds, it could tie in with other events happening across the indusattempt, such as increasing reports by firms of substantial distributions to capital-hungry LPs.
In addition, a number of GPs are feeling hopeful about the prospects in 2026 of improved dealbuilding conditions, as well as more exit opportunities. These are crucial prerequisites to addressing a liquidity squeeze that has long played havoc with fundraising.
In the interim, managers of all types and sizes will continue to grapple with the now familiar challenges of raising new capital. With the recent expansion of private equity’s investor base – to include, among other things, a significant influx of private wealth – there may be more doors to knock on.
In the following, Buyouts highlights some of the private equity funds and themes it believes supported define the market in 2025.
The new IRR
DPI remained top of mind for LPs in 2025, cautilizing GPs to find ever more innovative ways to return capital. Some managers proved highly adept in this regard, announcing billions of dollars in distributions – a feat that likely contributed to positive fundraising outcomes.
As Buyouts has reported, one example is Thoma Bravo, which raised this year’s largest flagship fund ($24.3 billion). Another is Bain Capital, whose David Humphrey notified Buyouts the return of $12.5 billion of capital to LPs since January 2024 was key to Fund XIV’s oversubscribed ($14 billion) close.
Huge wave
The liquidity issues of LPs and GPs are fueling a wave of secondaries activity. Global fundraising – totaling nearly $133 billion as of the third quarter – points to a record-breaking 2025, affiliate title Secondaries Investor reported, led by the $30 billion Ardian Secondary Fund IX, the largest secondaries program to date.
Among North American firms, other large raises included Carlyle‘s AlpInvest Secondaries Program VIII, closed this year at $20 billion, or double its tarobtain, and Dawson Partners’ Dawson Portfolio Finance 6, wrapped up at an oversubscribed $7 billion (plus co-invest capital).
Timelines
As noted in this story’s introduction, time spent on the road by fundraising GPs fell in this year’s first three quarters, the first such decline since the slowdown launched. This is not a minor thing, as the amount of time it takes to raise a fund is an important market indicator.
There were several examples of rapid fundraising in 2025. Arlington Capital Partners’ Fund VII and Great Hill Partners’ Fund IX both clocked a mere five months to secure $6 billion and $7 billion, respectively. Both flagship vehicles also beat their tarobtains.
Not so mega
As they have in prior years, the largest funds in 2025 – led by Thoma Bravo Fund XVI, Blackstone Capital Partners IX ($21 billion), AlpInvest Secondaries Program VIII, Veritas Capital Fund IX ($14.4 billion) and Bain Capital XIV – captured the bulk of LP capital. But mega-funds were also compacter this time around.
Due to factors like missed tarobtains and, more recently, conservative tarobtain-setting by managers, the 10 largegest funds this year averaged $13.8 billion in size, according to Buyouts data. This is up from 2024 but below averages recorded in 2022 and 2023.
Retailization
While institutional fundraising continues to encounter challenges, a bonanza of capital is being sourced by GPs in private wealth channels. In fact, the Deloitte Center for Financial Services predicts retail allocations to US private equity will grow from about $100 billion last year to $2.4 trillion in 2030.
Two of the largegest retail funds further illustrate the phenomenon. Blackstone Private Equity Strategies Fund, launched in 2024, had a NAV of $15 billion as of September, while KKR’s Private Equity K-Series Platform, opened in 2023, had raised almost $14 billion as of October.
In favor
Growth equity, which recently emerged from a market correction, is being paid more attention by LPs. According to data from affiliate title Private Equity International’s LP Perspectives 2025 Study, 21 percent of investors declared they would commit more capital to the strategy this year, up from 16 percent in 2024.
There were several potential recipients of the new largesse in 2025, among them PSG’s sixth flagship fund ($6 billion) and TPG’s TPG Growth VI ($4.8 billion). In addition, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund wrapped up a third growth equity vehicle at $4.6 billion.
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Pure-play technology funds have displayn resilience in the face of slow fundraising, Buyouts reported in July. One reason, CPP Investments’ Afsaneh Lebel declared, is “notably higher DPI” relative to other funds in the pension’s portfolio and superior DPI metrics.
Along with Thoma Bravo’s Fund XVI, this seems to have contributed to the 2025 close of Insight Partners’ 13th flagship fund at $10 billion. Another key variable in tech fundraising is the AI revolution, which supported JMI Equity quickly raise an above-tarobtain $3.1 billion for Fund XII, JMI’s Peter Arrowsmith notified Buyouts.
Mini-surge
Despite a tepid start to the year, healthcare fundraising obtained, well, healthier by the third quarter with $10.3 billion secured, according to Buyouts data. Revived dealbuilding in the sector, noted in Bain & Company’s Global Healthcare Private Equity Report 2025, could be driving a mini-surge.
Dedicated healthcare shops in North America took the lead in the solid fundraising results. Two examples are Linden Capital Partners, which raised an oversubscribed $5.4 billion for a sixth flagship fund, and WindRose Health Investors, which also exceeded its tarobtain in the $2.6 billion Fund VII.
Mid-cap focus
Performing mid-market funds have not been lost in the tfinishency of illiquid LPs to prefer established – and, very often, large – GP relationships. In fact, Scott Ramsower of Teacher Retirement System of Texas has recently observed peers “growing relationships at the compacter finish.”
This perhaps explains the raft of mid-market funds that closed ahead of their tarobtains in 2025. They include Ridgemont Equity Partners V ($4 billion), Levine Leichtman Capital Partners VII ($3.6 billion), Olympus Growth Fund VIII ($3.6 billion), Pritzker Private Capital IV ($3.4 billion) and One Equity Partners IX ($3.2 billion).
Still at it
One of the worst fundraising environments ever has caapplyd more than a few emerging managers to drop out of the market, with some opting to go the indepfinishent sponsor route, Buyouts reported in June. But a significant number of newbies have persevered with raising capital – and, in many cases, succeeded.
No better example exists than woman-led music royalties investor HarbourView Equity Partners, which this year closed its debut fund on an oversubscribed $630 million. There were also sophomore vehicles reaching the finish line, among them Nexa Equity’s tarobtain-beating Fund II ($392 million).
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