Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 12, 2026, 2:32 AM ET
Fundraising Surge
Private equity’s fundraising momentum accelerated sharply with the return of mega-funds and targeted sector plays. General Catalyst is raising $10 billion techcrunch.com and Spark Capital $3 billion techcrunch.com, joining a wave of large closes that includes Founders Fund nearing a $6 billion close techcrunch.com for its latest growth vehicle. The appetite extends beyond buyouts; Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners secured €1.3bn pe-insights.com for its flagship green credit fund, while BNP Paribas gathered €540m pe-insights.com for a GP stakes strategy targeting private capital managers. In Asia, Bain Capital secured $12.5bn pe-insights.com across its latest Japan and Asia buyout funds, underscoring regional depth. The market for control deals also heated up, with Monomoy agreeing to buy Jiffy Lube from Shell in a $1.3bn deal pehub.com, demonstrating continued capacity for sizable platform acquisitions.
Exit Activity and Portfolio Sales
Exit value generation reached record levels, led by European firms and strategic corporate buyers. EQT and co-investors realized a record $5.5bn pe-insights.com through a secondary share sale of skincare company Galderma, marking the largest such exit in Swiss history. CVC reported €21.9bn in realised exits for 2025 privateequityinternational.com, a 77% year-on-year increase, highlighting strong portfolio company performance. Major corporate exits included TPG completing a $4.75bn sale of Intersect to Google pehub.com, spinning out the grid-tied power business, and Carlyle agreeing to sell Colombian oil producer SierraCol to Prime Infrastructure pe-insights.com. Secondary market activity was robust, with Blackstone and Blue Owl acquiring a minority stake in the $16bn Atlas Holdings platform pe-insights.com and Brookfield exploring a $1.3bn acquisition of EQT and PAI-backed World Freight Company pe-insights.com.
Secondaries Market Evolution and Challenges
The GP-led secondaries market hit an all-time high in volume in 2025, but structural challenges persist. Lindsay Goldberg is building out a continuation vehicle strategy secondariesinvestor.com, joining a growing cohort of PE firms entering the space. However, GP-led deal volume may be at record levels, but LP satisfaction with processes remains mixed secondariesinvestor.com. A&M Capital’s Jeremy Weisberg emphasized exit visibility as key secondariesinvestor.com, focusing on mid-market deals for a better risk-return profile. Ardian’s Ava Mallin noted the secondaries market remains ‘undercapitalised’ secondariesinvestor.com despite inflows from private wealth, while Yann Robard of Dawson predicted continuation vehicles will represent 10-20% of PE exits secondariesinvestor.com. Partners Group’s David Layton dismissed fears over AI and private credit leverage as ‘wildly overdone’ privateequityinternational.com, contrasting with broader LP anxieties about underperformance.
AI Investment: From Hype to Outcomes
Venture capital and growth equity are pivoting from AI hype toward startups demonstrating tangible business impact and revenue. Investors are prioritizing agentic AI startups with proven production usage news.crunchbase.com, moving beyond flashy demos. This recalibration is evident in specialized funds like Breakout Ventures raising $114M to back AI science startups techcrunch.com in biology and chemistry. The trend coexists with massive rounds, such as Turing Award winner Yann LeCun’s AMI lab raising $1B news.crunchbase.com—Europe’s largest seed round ever—for “world model” AI. Khosla Ventures’ Ethan Choi discussed flipping his investing philosophy news.crunchbase.com to focus on founder-first, application-layer companies. Meanwhile, applied AI in verticals gained traction, with Rebar landing $14M news.crunchbase.com to build AI-generated quoting systems for HVAC suppliers and Swedish legal tech Legora tripling to a $5.55bn valuation news.crunchbase.com on the back of its AI platform for lawyers.
Healthcare and Industrial Consolidation
Add-on acquisition activity remained intense in healthcare services and industrial niches. Riverglade-backed Dynamic Access acquired family-owned vascular access provider Picc Stat pehub.com, while Chicago Pacific Founders invested in Nexben pehub.com, a Minneapolis-based healthcare benefits manager. AE Industrial’s AIM MRO bought AA Bushings pehub.com, its fourth add-on since the initial investment. In pharma services, NorthEdge-backed Ramarketing acquired ISR Market Research pehub.com, and Bridgepoint-backed Fera Science added Qotho Minerals pehub.com, a mineral proficiency testing provider. Lone Star agreed to buy Lonza’s Capsules and Health Ingredients division pehub.com, a major carve-out in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Industrial tech saw HIG-backed Coriant make its fourth acquisition with CVS pehub.com and XPV Water Partners launch an ocean technology platform pehub.com.
European Unicorn Creation and VC Dynamics
Europe’s tech ecosystem produced new decacorns and unicorns despite a challenging regulatory and funding environment. Health insurance platform Alan hit a €5bn valuation sifted.eu, joining the decacorn ranks listed by Sifted sifted.eu. Entrepreneurs First was crowned a unicorn sifted.eu following a $200m fundraise, and Turing winner LeCun’s AMI secured Europe’s largest ever seed round news.crunchbase.com. However, founders face a shifting landscape where the most essential hire is increasingly a clear thinker over a coder sifted.eu. A persistent concern is the funding gap for green tech companies needed to deliver Europe’s regulatory agenda, a gap Sifted notes Europe forgot to fund sifted.eu. Middle East investors will remain an important source of capital sifted.eu for European VC, according to a top LP.
Secondaries: Process and Structural Shifts
The secondaries market’s structural evolution was a dominant theme. GP-led volume surged, but process pain points for LPs are being addressed secondariesinvestor.com through innovations like co-control deals. Edmond de Rothschild Corporate Finance and Jasmin Capital partnered secondariesinvestor.com to focus on such transactions, where GPs sell part of a stake via M&A while moving the remainder into a continuation vehicle. Evercore APAC’s secondaries director departed secondariesinvestor.com amid a competitive market for talent. CPP Investments launched a multi-billion-dollar portfolio sale secondariesinvestor.com, dubbed Project Ember, including equal strips across buyout funds. Analysis from Hamilton Lane showed evergreen funds outperforming closed-end peers privateequityinternational.com, fueling debate on fund structures. StepStone’s Matthew Roche stated that in today’s market, DPI is IRR secondariesinvestor.com, reflecting the difficulty of exits.
Corporate carve-outs and strategic sales
Large corporations continued to divest non-core assets to financial sponsors. Blackstone took a majority stake in Advanced Cooling Technologies pehub.com, while also backing a minority stake in Atlas Holdings alongside Blue Owl pe-insights.com. E2P sold Furlani Foods to Arbor Investments pehub.com after a three-year hold, with the seller noting operational goals were hit faster than planned. Main Post agreed to sell haircare brand Not Your Mother’s to Henkel pehub.com, and Epiris-backed Delinian sold three companies to Triple Private Equity pehub.com. In the energy transition, GIC-backed Greenko lined up a potential $