Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 24, 2026, 8:30 PM ET
Fundraising & Capital Deployment
The private equity fundraising environment shows divergence, with established players securing major commitments while specialized and emerging managers target smaller goals. Kleiner Perkins secured $3.5 billion news.crunchbase.com across new funds, split between $1 billion for its early-stage KP22 vehicle and $2.5 billion designated for growth-stage deployments. Contrastingly, BRK Capital techcrunch.com and BKR Capital techcrunch.com are both working toward a $50 million target for Fund II, having announced $20 million Canadian commitments toward that goal on Monday, focusing specifically on backing Black founders. On the growth equity front, Lead Edge Capital successfully raised $3.5 billion pe-insights.com for its seventh fund, emphasizing software sector deals, while Japan's secondaries market saw RGCM Fund I preparing to close secondariesinvestor.com near its hard-cap, offering flexibility across direct secondaries and primary rounds.
Major Transactions & Portfolio Activity
Large-scale acquisitions continue across sectors, with significant activity noted in industrials, beauty, and infrastructure. Apollo committed $3.7 billion pe-insights.com to acquire Nippon Sheet Glass in Japan, marking the firm's largest private equity investment in the country. In Europe, Apollo and Bain Capital are competing in a €4 billion bidding race pe-insights.com to acquire Continental’s Conti Tech industrial unit. Elsewhere, Advent expanded its beauty portfolio pe-insights.com by agreeing to acquire a majority stake in premium brand Salt & Stone for $165 million, an exit that sees Humble Growth exiting its minority investment made earlier this year in 2024 pehub.com. Further activity includes One Equity taking UK distributor Kitwave private pehub.com and Main Post investing in pretzel brand Stellar Snacks pehub.com, which maintains broad retail distribution across major U.S. grocers.
Sector-Specific Investments and Exits
Targeted investments in specialized technology, healthcare, and environmental services demonstrate continued PE appetite for niche growth areas. GPI-backed Hopper OS acquired healthcare data firm Efferent pehub.com to bolster its configurable intelligent healthcare operating system capabilities. In the mobility space, TPG and Allianz X co-led a $350 million investment pehub.com into Cambridge Mobile Telematics, with State Farm also participating. Dealmaking in environmental services saw Actis complete the acquisition of a 90% stake pe-insights.com in Singaporean environmental management firm 800 Super, bringing Actis's Southeast Asia deployment total to $1.7 billion, while Goldner Hawn acquired Lone Star Environmental Companies pehub.com operating in the Houston and San Antonio markets. Conversely, Generate Capital sold greenhouse operator Equinox Growers pehub.com to Taylor Farms, supporting regional food supply chains.
Tech, AI, and Digital Infrastructure Focus
The influence of artificial intelligence remains pervasive, impacting both investment strategy and fund deployment, although venture activity has recently seen a slowdown in mega-rounds. Kleiner Perkins' new funds news.crunchbase.com are explicitly AI-focused, and Air Street Capital closed Europe’s largest solo GP fund at $232 million sifted.eu to back early-stage European and North American AI companies. In a bid to attract large capital partners, OpenAI is reportedly offering a guaranteed minimum 17.5% return pe-insights.com for private equity involvement in joint ventures. Meanwhile, on the operational side, Gryphon-backed Rootstock acquired ERP provider Ascent Solutions pehub.com, which builds cloud ERP on the Salesforce platform, and GTCR-backed Ascent Sports Group acquired sports tech firm LiveBarn pehub.com. Further demonstrating niche tech deployment, Gimlet Labs raised an $80 million Series A techcrunch.com for technology enabling AI inference across multiple chip architectures simultaneously, addressing a known bottleneck.
Secondaries Market Dynamics & Exit Challenges
The secondaries market is experiencing high interest as LPs seek liquidity, although overall exit activity across Asia-Pacific remains challenging. The University of California is currently shopping a $3 billion LP portfolio secondariesinvestor.com to gain liquidity. This demand for exits is reflected in the fact that the number of APAC portfolio companies held for over five years increased by 18% in 2025 privateequityinternational.com, according to Bain & Co’s latest report privateequityinternational.com. In strategic moves, Mercer's acquisition of a secondaries capability firm privateequityinternational.com underscores the priority LPs are placing on liquidity solutions. Furthermore, New Mountain Atlas is leveraging its sector teams secondariesinvestor.com to lead and co-lead GP-led buyout deals, moving beyond its recent secondaries hires to actively source opportunities.
Dealmaking and Firm Management Updates
Firms are making strategic personnel changes and testing the waters for major exits amidst evolving market conditions. CVC Capital Partners and Silver Lake have begun investor outreach pe-insights.com for a potential $6.7 billion initial public offering of RAC. Concurrently, Advent is reportedly exploring a massive €25 billion exit pe-insights.com of TK Elevator, with Kone in advanced discussions for the acquisition. In firm leadership, ECI appointed David Danon as a new partner pehub.com after nearly two decades in Bain Capital’s private equity team, while GTCR brought in Donnie Phillips pehub.com as managing director and chief administrative officer in their Chicago office. Separately, reports suggest that West Monroe observes that exit difficulties are leading to partial sales pehub.com and longer preparation times for sell-side processes.
Venture Ecosystem & Early-Stage Support
Early-stage ecosystems are showing targeted support, particularly in India and for underrepresented founders. Accel and Prosus selected six startups techcrunch.com for their inaugural India cohort, providing each with between $500,000 and $2 million from an initial pool of over 2,000 applicants. In Canada, BKR Capital is advancing its Fund II techcrunch.com toward its $50 million target, having secured $20 million Canadian thus far to support Black founders. In early-stage science funding, Amadeus Capital and OSE backed an Oxford robotics spinout sifted.eu focused on solving long-term memory issues. Meanwhile, Princeton Equity Group backed children’s education provider KidStrong pehub.com, which has grown to 184 franchised centers supporting over 85,000 members across the U.S. and Canada.