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Private Markets Report

Trends Impacting Private Markets H2 2026

Key takeaways

Our survey of 150 PE/VC firms reveals continued fundraising concerns despite improvements in exit markets. Read the report to see the details by fund type.

63%

of PE flagship funds added more LPs to their latest fund

Growing LP bases could bring bigger back-office workloads

22%

of respondents expect the exit environment to become more difficult in the next 12 months

Up 14 percentage points from last year.

>10%

rise in aggregate capital call line usage

Measured from the previous market peak in 2022

The data

Industry data, First Citizens data, and our survey data from 150 private funds CFOs and COOs demonstrate expectations for a continued liquidity overhang—and how funds are managing this challenging environment.

Funding

LP bases are growing

A majority of funds have added more LPs to their current flagship fund than they did with previous flagships.

While LP bases have been growing more rapidly among VC funds, PE appears poised to follow suit.

Bar chart showing increase in LP base for PE and VC flagship funds Source: First Citizens survey, proprietary data and analysis.
Exits

Exit sentiment softens as liquidity overhang persists

After several quarters of improving optimism, an increasing number of survey respondents expect exit momentum to dwindle in the coming year.

Negative sentiment is stronger in PE than in VC. Read the report for a full breakdown. 

Bar chart showing the rise in exit pessimism after three years of increasing optimism. Source: First Citizens survey, proprietary data and analysis
LIQUIDITY

Capital call line usage increases amid AI boom

The growth in AI investment has played a role in boosting capital call lines’ aggregate average monthly balances .Survey respondents expect exit momentum to continue in 2026.

Most of the continuing growth appears to be in VC, while PE has largely settled at a new baseline.

Chart demonstrating the rise in balances for all types of capital call lines since March 2022. Note: Includes all fund-level capital call line balances for VC, buyout and growth funds on a three-month moving average, indexed to 100 in March 2022. Source: First Citizens survey, proprietary data and analysis.

Private Markets Report, H2 2026

Read the full report for more insights.

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