Insights Chart of the Week

Survey: New Private Wealth Investors Think Past Private Equity 

When new, highly engaged investors step into the private markets, they’re considering more than just private equity from the start. According to the Hamilton Lane Global Private Wealth Survey, 93% wealth professionals say their clients are interested in more than one strategy when they consider private market investing. 

Private equity remains the most common starting point, but interest in venture capital and growth, real estate, infrastructure and private credit is not far behind. Because this was a “select all that apply” question, many wealth professionals indicated they are considering multiple strategies for these clients from the outset. 

That approach reflects how advisors and their clients are thinking about private markets’ role in overall portfolio construction. Private equity and venture capital tap into long-term growth and innovation, while real estate and infrastructure provide tangible assets, contracted cash flows, and a potential hedge against inflation. Private credit can contribute to yield and downside protection. Together, these strategies can help investors pursue a mix of growth, income, and diversification that may be difficult to replicate with public markets alone.  

Explore our 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey for more insights into how wealth professionals are using and thinking about private markets. 

Bridging Buyout's $1.2 Trillion Funding Gap

As of Q2 2025, private equity buyout dry powder stood at $1.7 trillion.  If the buyout transactions funded by that dry powder are financed a 50% equity / 50% debt ratio, they will need another $1.7 trillion in credit financing to support those deals. Data suggests there is only $500B in private credit dry powder available today, so there is roughly a $1.2T funding gap between the amount of private equity buyout dry powder raised and the amount of private credit capital available to support it.  

The combination of today’s funding gap and the approaching leveraged loan maturity wall points to close to $1.7T of financing need over the next four years, a level that traditional banks are unlikely to satisfy on their own.  

For investors, that translates into a sizeable, multi‑year opportunity to put capital to work in new loans and refinancings. 

Learn more about Hamilton Lane's approach to Direct Credit.

Private Wealth Survey Reveals What’s Driving Rising Private Market Allocations 

Multiple factors are driving wealth professionals to increase allocations to private markets in 2026. The top reason is portfolio optimization, cited by 59% of respondents in our 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey, indicating many advisers view private assets as a tool to improve overall portfolio construction and outcomes. 

Competitive positioning (48%) and client demand (46%) follow, reflecting a mix of firm strategy and investor preferences. Availability of suitable products (45%) and market volatility (41%) also influence decisions. 

Read the complete report for detailed insights and implications for wealth professionals. 

AI Table Stakes: Diversified Energy Solutions

The AI locomotive has left the station.  With it comes greater demand for power to fuel the data centers used to support AI projects. Access to reliable energy solutions is becoming increasingly competitive as data centers continue to bid up demand.  That has left power suppliers racing to keep up: Projections for global energy supply suggest supply will more than double over the next 10 years to keep up.  

Case in point: Significant enterprise demand recently fueled a $4.75B carveout from an existing HL portfolio company, Intersect Power, which specializes in solar generation and storage to actively support data center buildouts. 

While natural gas will remain an important piece for grid reliability and managing peak capacity, renewable energy generation is forecasted to significantly increase market share, propelled by lower costs and more efficient technology. This makes the ability for investors to strategically allocate capital across energy generation solutions a critical part of private markets portfolios. 

Learn more about Hamilton Lane's approach to renewable energy and Impact Investing.

Wealth Professionals Plan Increases to Venture Capital 

Wealth professionals are gearing up for meaningful shifts in private markets allocations. In our 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey, we found that interest is building in strategies that offer a mix of innovation, resilience, and long-term growth potential, including venture capital and private equity. By contrast, views on infrastructure and real estate are more mixed. Credit stands out as the only category where more advisors anticipate decreasing allocations than increasing them — likely a reaction to recent negative headlines about private credit, which we believe are overstated.

Curious about what wealth professionals are hearing from their clients and where demand is building? Explore the full survey results.

Secondary Deals Speak Volumes

Once a niche strategy, secondaries are redefining how investors manage their private markets investments. As investors' rising interest in evergreen funds amplifies existing closed-end demand, buyers and sellers alike are seeking more secondaries exposure, leading to continued market growth. 

Secondaries investors can benefit from J-curve mitigation through quickened cash flows, built-in diversification and enhanced liquidity. In other words, secondaries can create opportunities for investors to strategically put capital to work on their terms and timelines, especially for those partnered with managers who have the expertise, scale and relationships to seize them. 

Learn more about Hamilton Lane's approach to Secondaries. 

How $1 in Private Equity Stacked Up Globally 

U.S. public equity has led global markets from 2018-2025. As a result, the relative outperformance of U.S. private equity versus public equity is about 8% over this period. By comparison, Western Europe and Asia Pacific show much larger private vs. public index spreads of 52% and 24%, respectively. 

Despite the smaller spread, U.S. private equity still ends up higher in dollar terms (without factoring in currency movements), growing to $2.87, compared with $2.50 in Western Europe and $1.73 in Asia Pacific.  

Learn more about Hamilton Lane's approach to private equity in our Mid-Year Market Update. 

Beyond Public Indices: Venture AI

There's no doubt about it: AI dominated venture capital (VC) investments in 2025, with AI deal value trending significantly higher than the trailing five years.  

Unlike public markets, where only a handful of big tech companies are driving AI investment, venture capital can provide an attractive entry point for investors to access more niche, earlier-stage companies, where both dollars and deal activity are on the rise. What will 2026 bring? 

Learn more about Hamilton Lane's approach to Venture Capital.  

An Unappreciated Benefit of Private Markets Exposure

Despite three recessions, key private markets strategies continued to deliver. Over no five-year period did investors lose money in buyout, private credit or private infrastructure from 2000 – Q2 2025. Nor did they give up upside return, highlighting one of the great benefits of private market exposure in investor portfolios: downside protection with upside potential.  

Learn more about Hamilton Lane's approach to direct equity, private credit and infrastructure. 

Why Evergreen Private Market Funds Can Win

Evergreen funds, with lower minimum investment thresholds and higher liquidity than traditional private market funds, reduce barriers to private market investing.  

Some investors worry that the higher liquidity offered by evergreen funds could lead to lower returns, that managers might sacrifice deal quality to deploy new inflows quickly, or that higher fees will erode net performance. Yet the available performance data on evergreen funds suggests those concerns have not borne out. 

This chart from our 2025 Market Overview suggests evergreen funds have delivered comparable or slightly higher annualized returns than closed-end private equity funds and have frequently outperformed global benchmarks, though performance varies by fund and market conditions.  

Venture Secondaries: $80B+ in Liquidity Potential

Venture secondaries are speeding ahead, now accounting for 22% of total LP-led secondary market volume, yet penetration remains low. If venture secondaries as a percentage of venture capital's total addressable market (TAM) were to reach buyout levels, their TAM could top $100B.  

With less than 20% of the venture secondaries market penetrated, active portfolio management can help investors both access highly sought-after venture-backed companies and get liquidity from them.   

Learn more about Hamilton Lane's approach to Venture Capital.   

2025 Distributions Are Up. How Much?

Going by absolute numbers, annual distributions are on pace to be the second highest on record. While distributions are marginally up for buyout and private credit, distributions as a percentage of net asset value (NAV) remain near historical lows.  

This dynamic, combined with rising NAVs across private markets, can create an attractive entry point for secondary investors seeking both liquidity and long-term appreciation. Want to see how investors can access secondaries to meet their investment objectives and further diversify their portfolio across holdings?

Learn more about our approach to Secondaries.