Liquidity is also improving. After several years of constrained exits, January saw meaningful acceleration in both announced IPOs and M&A activity. That matters. Realizations ultimately drive distributions, and distributions drive the next cycle of commitments. With over $312 billion in transaction value announced during the month, activity levels suggest capital is moving again.
Fundraising activity in January carried forward the momentum that built through the end of last year. In private equity, several large sponsors signaled a return to the market. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is preparing CD&R Fund XIII, targeting $26+ billion, while Francisco Partners is seeking a combined $18 billion across Francisco Partners VIII and Agility IV. This comes alongside recent multibillion-dollar fund closes from managers such as Lindsay Goldberg’s Fund VI and Warburg Pincus’s Warburg Pincus Financial Sector III. Secondaries were also a focal point, highlighted by Leonard Green’s Sage Equity Investors, which closed a $3.6 billion vehicle. This is their first fund dedicated to single-asset continuation deals.
In private credit, sizable raises from Ares Management’s Ares Credit Secondaries and Monroe Capital’s Monroe Capital Private Credit V pointed to sustained demand for both private credit secondary exposure and middle market direct lending. This was complemented by new evergreen and semi-liquid strategies from firms including PGIM and Invesco, targeting the private wealth channel. Real assets fundraising was also strong, led by Benefit Street’s $10 billion opportunistic real estate debt fund, the largest close of the month, with additional capital raised for value-add real estate and European infrastructure strategies.
In venture, Andreessen Horowitz closed $15 billion across multiple strategies, a positive sign for VC fundraising. In aggregate, this represented roughly 18% of all VC capital raised in the 2025, reflecting renewed LP willingness to back large venture platforms. The raise included its Growth, Apps, Infrastructure, American Dynamism, and Bio + Health strategies, reinforcing investor appetite for diversified exposure to AI, software, defense-tech, and healthcare innovation. Lux Capital has closed its oversubscribed $1.5 billion Fund IX, focusing on defense, deep tech, and physical AI. Meanwhile, Battery Ventures returned to the market, seeking over $3 billion for their Fund XV.
Institutional commitments in January reinforced these themes. Credit and value-add real estate captured a meaningful share of allocations, including a $200 million commitment from Kansas Public Employees Retirement System to Blue Owl Real Estate Fund VII. Kansas PERS also allocated $225 million to Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, while LASERS committed $100 million to Warburg Pincus Global Growth 15. Kansas PERS also committed $110 million to Lux Venture IX.
Large firms with long track records and clear strategies are raising larger funds, while mid-sized specialists in the right corners of the market are also finding success. Secondaries are increasingly becoming a part of LPs private markets allocation, not just a liquidity tool, as investors value faster deployment and aim to take advantage of mispriced opportunities within the market. Managers are also adapting product structures by launching evergreen or semi-liquid vehicles to better align with how institutional and the growing private wealth channel increasingly want to allocate capital.
Dakota collected approximately 1,900 announced transactions in January, totaling $312 billion in disclosed deal value. It’s a strong start to the year across both sponsor-backed and strategic activity. Financials led with roughly $68.0 billion, followed by Information Technology at $47.8 billion and Industrials at $45.8 billion. Utilities ($33.5 billion) and Healthcare ($33.3 billion) were close behind, with Real Estate, Materials, Consumer Discretionary, and Energy also contributing meaningful volume.
Within buyout and broader M&A, January showed growing confidence around executing large, complex transactions. The $26.6 billion acquisition of Calpine combines Constellation’s nuclear, geothermal and other clean energy assets with Calpine’s natural gas and geothermal fleet to create the nation’s largest electricity producer (~55 GW of capacity) and expand its platform to meet rising power demand from AI-driven data centers, advanced manufacturing and critical infrastructure. The $24.25 billion Worldpay transaction reflects continued consolidation across financial services infrastructure. In healthcare, the $14.5 billion Penumbra deal highlights appetite for scaled, innovation-driven medical technology platforms by giving Boston Scientific expanded entry into fast-growing vascular and neurovascular segments with Penumbra’s mechanical thrombectomy, embolization and advanced interventional devices to address complex cardiovascular and stroke conditions. The amount of deal flow across Financials, Utilities, and Industrials indicates capital is moving toward cash-flowing, defensible businesses with durable earnings visibility.
On the venture and growth side, elevated volume in Information Technology and Healthcare signals continued interest in structural growth themes. The $20 billion transaction involving xAI reflects ongoing capital formation around AI and next-generation computing platforms. xAI wasn’t the only AI company attracting significant dollars, as Skild AI and Waabi raised $1.4B and $750M Series C rounds, respectively. Technology-oriented deals such as OneStream ($6.4 billion) reinforce demand for enterprise software assets with strong recurring revenue profiles.
The early read on 2025 is constructive. LP sentiment is improving, fundraising is accelerating at the top end of the market, and transaction activity is picking up across both strategic and sponsor-backed channels. Liquidity is not fully normalized, but the direction is positive. If exit markets continue to reopen and distributions improve, the setup supports a more active year for fundraising and dealmaking across private markets.
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