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The numbers shaping private capital.
Private-markets scale and dry powder, capital-call and AI-driven fraud, and a record secondary market. Every figure links to its source.
Scale of Private Capital
Private capital is no longer an alternative.
Private markets have become a core allocation for institutions worldwide. The operational plumbing beneath them (capital calls, distributions, reporting) has not kept pace with that scale.
$20T+
Global private-markets AUM today
Roughly triple a decade ago. What was once a satellite allocation is now central to institutional portfolios, yet much of the operations behind it still runs on email and spreadsheets.
$32T
Projected private-markets AUM by 2030
Preqin expects private markets to nearly double again this decade, led by private credit and a structural rotation of capital from public to private. Private equity alone is forecast to reach $11.8T.
11.5%
Private markets' share of institutional portfolios
Up from 10.5% a year earlier. Official institutions such as central banks and sovereign funds now allocate over 15%. The classic 60/40 portfolio is becoming 50/30/20.
$3.7T
Dry powder committed but not yet called
Uncalled capital has roughly doubled since 2019. Every dollar is a future capital call, a wire that must be executed, verified, and reconciled. That is the workload swelv automates.
Capital-Call Fraud
A real risk, now at AI scale.
Capital calls move large sums by email and wire, exactly the workflow criminals target. And the attack just got harder to spot: AI-cloned voices and deepfake video calls now defeat the 'phone to confirm' check that used to catch it. In one 2024 case, a finance employee at engineering firm Arup wired $25.6M across fifteen transfers after a video call in which every colleague was an AI-generated deepfake.
$3.04B
BEC losses reported to the FBI in 2025
Up from $2.77B in 2024. Business email compromise is the second-costliest cybercrime category. Private funds are prime targets: large transfers, email-based processes, and limited verification.
86%
Of those payments moved by wire or ACH
The stolen funds leave on the same rails a capital call uses, passing every upstream control without triggering an alert. Verification, not detection, is the missing layer.
$40B
Projected US gen-AI fraud losses by 2027
Up from $12.3B in 2023, a 32% annual growth rate, as generative AI industrializes impersonation. Deepfake-enabled voice attacks alone surged more than 1,600% in early 2025.
Secondary Market
The secondary market is no longer niche.
For decades, selling an LP position meant a distressed fire sale. That has changed. In 2025 the secondary market broke every record: a strategic portfolio-management tool now, not an exit of last resort. The constraint is no longer demand. It is execution infrastructure.
$240B
Global secondary transaction volume in 2025
A record year, up 48% from 2024. LPs and GPs increasingly use secondaries to rebalance and extend, not just to exit. Volume has grown more than fivefold over the past decade.
$477B
Total secondary-market capital available
Dedicated secondary funds hold a record $327B; with LP capital and leverage, buying power reaches roughly $477B, far more than annual volume. The gap is execution, not appetite.
48%
Share of the market that is now GP-led
GP-led continuation vehicles reached $115B in 2025, up 53% year over year. What was once a niche structure is now half the secondary market.
Cost of Selling
Liquidity still has a price.
Even in a record year, moving a private-markets position is slow and expensive, not just in NAV discount, but in time, legal fees, and operational burden.
10-30%
Typical discount to NAV
Pricing firmed in 2025 for quality assets, but discounts persist for mid-market and tail positions. They compensate buyers for illiquidity and transaction complexity, costs that better infrastructure could reduce.
Lazard Secondary Market Report, 2024
60-90d
Average time to close a secondary
A secondary transaction involves GP consent, legal review, transfer documentation, and buyer due diligence. Each step adds weeks. For comparison, public-market trades settle in two days.
Industry estimates
$353K
Estimated friction cost per mid-market transaction
Legal fees, advisory fees, administrative overhead, and opportunity cost. For positions under $50M, these can represent 1-2% of transaction value on top of the NAV discount.
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The concepts behind the numbers.
Every term above has a plain-English definition in the glossary, with the fund mechanics spelled out.
Data sourced from publicly available industry reports; each figure links to its source. Last updated: July 2026.