When most people think about who uses a private markets database, they think of deal teams at private equity and private credit firms, and investment bankers covering M&A and sponsor relationships. That instinct is right — those are natural, obvious users. But it misses a much larger universe of professionals who are working in and around private markets every single day and are making consequential decisions with far less information than they need.
The conventional wisdom says private markets data is for PE firms and investment bankers. The reality is that a much broader set of professionals need this intelligence — and at $2,995 per user per year, there is no longer a reason to go without it.
The problem, historically, has been price. Comprehensive private markets data sat behind paywalls that only the largest institutions could justify. At $50,000, $100,000, or more per year, a public pension fund’s due diligence team, an RIA building a private markets allocation, or a bank’s credit underwriting desk could rarely make the numbers work — even when the data would have been enormously valuable to them.
At $2,995 per user per year, that calculus changes. Dakota Private Markets — with coverage of 20,000+ GPs, 50,000+ private funds, 150,000+ sponsor-backed portfolio companies, 600,000+ non-sponsor private companies, 20,000+ transactions, and performance data with custom benchmarking on 14,000+ funds — is now accessible to virtually any professional organization working in or adjacent to private markets. Here is the case for why a much broader audience should be paying close attention.
Wealth Management RIAs · Multi-Family Offices · Independent Investment Advisors
The RIA channel is allocating more capital to private markets than ever before. Clients want exposure to private equity, private credit, and real assets — and RIAs are under pressure to develop genuine conviction around manager selection, fund evaluation, and portfolio construction. That conviction requires data. Until recently, the data they needed was priced for institutional allocators with research departments, not advisory firms managing their private allocations with lean teams.
Access detailed GP profiles, full fund histories, and performance data with custom benchmarking — so manager selection is driven by evidence, not relationship and reputation alone.
Compare any fund against a custom peer group — by vintage year, strategy, geography, and size — rather than relying on the benchmarks a manager provides in their own marketing materials.
Track the underlying portfolio companies of funds your clients are invested in, including CEO bios, investment memos, and transaction activity, to stay informed beyond quarterly reports.
Use transaction data and market intelligence to inform client conversations about private market conditions, deal activity, and how their allocations are positioned relative to broader market trends.
Ask the AI Layer: “Show me all mid-market buyout funds from vintage 2020 and 2021 that are top quartile on TVPI, have less than three portfolio company exits to date, and are managed by GPs with at least three prior funds — and give me contact information for the GP.”
State & Municipal Pension Plans · Teachers’ Retirement Systems · Public Employee Retirement Funds
Public pension funds have been increasing their private markets allocations for years in pursuit of higher returns relative to public market benchmarks. But many public pension investment teams are lean relative to their asset base — they are managing substantial private market exposure with limited research staff. Better data infrastructure means fewer hours spent on manual research and more time spent on the analysis that actually drives investment decisions.
Build a thorough picture of any GP before a formal meeting — fund history, strategy evolution, team composition, and a complete track record — without relying solely on materials the manager provides.
Create custom peer group benchmarks to evaluate existing managers and assess incoming opportunities against truly comparable funds — not generic industry indices.
Track transaction activity, portfolio company developments, and market dynamics across an entire private markets portfolio — surfacing signals that matter before the next manager report arrives.
When evaluating whether to re-commit to an existing manager, access independent performance data and portfolio company detail to support an objective, evidence-based conversation with the GP.
Ask the AI Layer: “Compare all infrastructure funds in our existing GP relationships by net IRR and DPI across their most recent two vintages, and flag any managers where performance has materially declined from one fund to the next.”
University Endowments · Private Foundations · Community Foundations · Hospital Systems
Endowments and foundations pioneered the move into alternative assets and remain among the most sophisticated allocators in private markets. Many, however, operate with small internal teams relative to their complexity. The investment staff at a $500M endowment may be two or three people covering an allocation that spans buyout, venture, credit, real assets, and co-investments. Research efficiency is not a luxury — it is a necessity.
Search the GP database for managers raising first or second funds with compelling track records — a segment that endowments have historically accessed better than most, and one that rewards good data.
Track deal activity and portfolio company acquisitions by GPs in your existing relationships to identify co-investment opportunities earlier in the process.
Use portfolio company data across your GP relationships to understand sector, geography, and stage concentration across the full private markets portfolio — not just fund by fund.
Cross-reference manager-reported performance against Dakota’s independently sourced fund data as part of a disciplined re-up and new manager evaluation process.
Ask the AI Layer: “Which venture capital GPs raising their second or third fund have a first fund that is performing in the top quartile on TVPI among peers of the same vintage and strategy — and how concentrated are their portfolios in AI and software?”
National Sovereign Funds · Strategic Investment Funds · Government Pension Reserve Funds
Sovereign wealth funds allocating to private markets — whether directly or through GP relationships — require substantial research infrastructure to manage their portfolios effectively. For SWFs that are building or expanding their private markets programs, Dakota provides a rapid way to develop institutional knowledge about the GP landscape, fund performance history, and deal activity that would otherwise require years of relationship-building and manual data collection to accumulate.
Rapidly develop a working knowledge of the private equity and private credit GP landscape — by strategy, geography, and fund size — including performance data across vintage years to prioritize where to focus relationship development.
Use the portfolio company and transaction databases to identify direct investment and co-investment opportunities — particularly in sectors or geographies aligned with strategic investment mandates.
Track deal activity, sector trends, and GP behavior across the private markets to stay informed about where capital is flowing and how competitive dynamics are shifting in target markets.
Compress the time required to conduct initial due diligence on any GP or fund — arriving at first meetings with a thorough, independent understanding of the manager’s track record and portfolio.
Ask the AI Layer: “Show me all private equity GPs with a demonstrated focus on infrastructure and industrial assets in Southeast Asia or Australia that have raised at least two funds, with fund sizes over $500M, and provide their performance data by vintage.”
Commercial Banks · Regional Banks · Broker-Dealer Wealth Platforms · Trust Departments
Banks and broker-dealers touch private markets from multiple angles — wealth platforms offering private fund access to high-net-worth clients, trust departments managing complex multi-asset portfolios, commercial banking teams lending against private company collateral, and distribution desks moving private fund products across advisor networks. Each of those functions benefits from better intelligence about managers, funds, portfolio companies, and market activity.
Research and evaluate private fund products before making them available on wealth platforms — with independent performance data and GP track record analysis to support the approval process.
When underwriting loans to sponsor-backed portfolio companies, access investment memos, CEO backgrounds, GP track records, and comparable transaction data to inform credit decisions with richer context.
Distribution teams selling private fund products need to understand the competitive landscape — which managers are raising, what their track records show, and how new offerings compare to existing options on the platform.
Trust departments managing private assets on behalf of clients benefit from ongoing monitoring of GP performance and portfolio company activity to fulfill fiduciary oversight responsibilities.
Ask the AI Layer: “Show me all PE-backed healthcare services companies with revenues estimated between $30M and $150M that have been held for more than four years by their current sponsor and have not yet announced an exit — potential refinancing or acquisition candidates.”
OCIO Firms · Investment Consultants · Private Markets Advisory Firms · Due Diligence Specialists
OCIO firms and investment consultants are making private markets allocation decisions on behalf of dozens or hundreds of institutional clients simultaneously. Their competitive advantage is research depth and manager access — the ability to evaluate more managers, more rigorously, than the clients they serve could do on their own. For these firms, comprehensive data infrastructure is not a cost — it is a core part of the value proposition they sell.
Maintain a broad, current view of the private markets GP landscape — tracking which managers are in market, what their recent performance looks like, and how new funds compare to prior vintages — without relying on manager outreach alone.
Build genuinely relevant peer group benchmarks for client portfolio reviews — by strategy, vintage, and geography — rather than presenting clients with generic indices that don’t reflect their actual exposure.
Use Dakota to conduct an efficient initial screen of any manager before committing significant research time — confirming strategy consistency, team stability, and performance trajectory before moving to full diligence.
Cross-reference manager-provided materials against independent data at every stage of due diligence — fund performance, portfolio company details, and transaction history — to ensure the picture being presented is consistent with the record.
Ask the AI Layer: “For all private credit managers in our approved list, show me their most recent fund’s performance relative to vintage year peers and flag any managers where current fund IRR is more than one quartile below their prior fund’s performance at the same point in the investment period.”
Life & Annuity Carriers · P&C Insurers · Insurance Holding Companies · Reinsurers
Insurance companies have become significant allocators to private markets — particularly private credit, infrastructure, and real assets — as they seek yield and liability-matching assets in a market where traditional fixed income has been challenged. Their investment teams need to evaluate GP relationships, monitor portfolio companies, and stay current on deal activity and market trends, often with investment staff that is small relative to the total assets under management.
Research private credit and direct lending managers across their full fund history — including performance data and portfolio company coverage — to support rigorous manager selection for general account allocations.
Track the portfolio companies underlying private credit funds and direct investments — including ownership changes, transaction activity, and management team details — as part of ongoing asset quality monitoring.
Use transaction data to monitor deal volumes, sector activity, and pricing trends in private credit and direct lending markets — informing portfolio construction and risk management decisions.
Maintain documented, independent records of due diligence and ongoing monitoring to support regulatory requirements around alternative asset management within insurance portfolios.
Ask the AI Layer: “Which direct lending and private credit GPs have maintained top-half performance across at least three consecutive vintage years, focus on senior secured lending to middle market companies, and have fund sizes between $1B and $5B?”
Single Family Offices · Multi-Family Office Platforms · Private Wealth Investment Teams
Family offices managing significant private markets exposure have historically relied on relationships, networks, and whatever data they could assemble manually. Those with the resources to build dedicated research infrastructure did. The rest operated with meaningful blind spots. At $2,995 per user per year, a family office investment team of even two or three people can now access a depth and breadth of private markets data that was simply not available to them at a reasonable cost before.
Search 600,000+ non-sponsor-backed private companies to identify direct investment opportunities — founder-owned businesses in target industries and geographies that have not yet taken institutional capital.
Systematically research and prioritize GP relationships worth developing — using performance data, fund history, and portfolio company detail to identify managers worth pursuing before relying on referrals alone.
Monitor deal activity and transaction data from GPs in existing relationships to stay current on what they are buying and where co-investment opportunities are most likely to emerge.
For family offices with operating businesses or direct industry investments, track PE and private credit activity in relevant sectors — understanding who is buying, at what valuations, and with what strategic thesis.
Ask the AI Layer: “Show me founder-owned business services and technology-enabled services companies in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic with revenues between $10M and $75M that have been operating for at least eight years and have never taken private equity investment.”
At $2,995 per user per year, Dakota Private Markets puts comprehensive private markets intelligence within reach of virtually any professional organization working in or adjacent to private markets — with the AI Intelligence layer available as a premium add-on for those who want conversational access to the full platform.