Data sourced from Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
Family office direct investment activity rebounded sharply in September, with Dakota Marketplace tracking 2,251 verified transactions worldwide, up from 1,504 in August. The top three sectors (Information Technology, Industrials, and Real Estate) accounted for 1,254 of those transactions, representing 56% of all tracked deal activity for the month. The sector breakdown below draws from the same dataset that powers Dakota’s Global Family Office 2025 Report.
The sectors below are ranked by direct investment activity in September 2026, not survey-reported preferences. This reflects where family capital actually moved last month across venture, growth equity, buyouts, private credit, and co-investments.
For fund managers raising capital, this is the signal that matters: family offices pattern-match on sectors where they already have direct conviction, and last month’s deployment is the clearest forward indicator of where commitments will follow.
In this article, we break down the top 10 sectors by deal count, with specific transactions from each to show where family office conviction is concentrating right now.
Top 10 Sectors by Family Office Direct Investment Activity
1. Information Technology
551 transactions | $45B total value
Information Technology held the top spot in September for the fifth consecutive month, with deal count jumping from 334 in August to 551, even as total value slipped from $54.8B to $45.1B. Data center infrastructure and AI model developers drove the largest deals. STT Global Data Centers drew a $5.2B strategic acquisition on September 2, followed by Mistral AI’s $3.48B Series D on September 8. NewHold Investment Corp. III’s $2.4B reverse merger followed on September 21, and Cognition raised a $2.0B Series E on September 8, the same day as Mistral. McGill and Partners added a $2.0B secondary buyout on September 4. For fund managers, thematic specialization continues to raise more efficiently than generalist pitches: managers focused on specific sub-themes like AI infrastructure, data center capacity, or developer tooling should expect large-check co-investment interest alongside primary commitments.
2. Industrials
427 transactions | $64B total value
Industrials held second place in September by transaction count, with deal count rising from 293 in August to 427. It was also the highest-value sector of the month, with total value nearly tripling from $21.6B. Consolidated Precision Products’ $11.75B carve-out on September 8 led the sector, followed by World Labs’ $8.2B strategic acquisition on September 28 and Urbaser’s $6.6B secondary buyout on September 22. Nippon Sheet Glass drew a $3.7B take-private on September 29, and The Boring Company raised a $3.0B Series D on September 9. Managers raising industrials-focused capital should position around aerospace and defense, infrastructure construction, and environmental services, all of which map to documented family office investment priorities this month.
3. Real Estate
276 transactions | $28.95B total value
Real Estate held third place in September, with deal count rising from 187 in August to 276 while total value eased from $32.8B to $29.0B. Centerspace’s $8.1B merger on September 9 was the sector’s largest transaction, a major apartment REIT combination. Data center capital showed up here as well as in Information Technology: Crusoe raised a $3.9B Series F on September 17, and Vantage Data Centers (North America) closed $2.0B in structured credit on September 14. A 5.2 million square foot logistics portfolio traded for $1.2B on September 17, and a 30-acre portion of a Wynwood assemblage sold for $1.1B on September 30. Family offices strongly prefer direct exposure over fund vehicles in this sector. Managers raising real estate capital should come prepared to discuss co-investment opportunities as part of the pitch, and September’s credit deals show family capital is also willing to lend against data center and logistics assets.
4. Health Care
271 transactions | $44B total value
Health Care held fourth place in September, with deal count rising from 185 in August to 271. Biotech acquisitions dominated the month. Apogee Therapeutics drew a $10.9B strategic acquisition on September 3, and Crinetics Pharmaceuticals followed at 10.0B on September 1. Together those two deals accounted for nearly half of the sector's total value. AtaiBeckley ($3.8B, September 11), ITM Isotopen Technologien München2.348B, September 21), and Actio Biosciences ($1.32B, September 15) rounded out the biotech deals, while Bayer AG attracted a $3.4B minority investment on September 16 and Summit Therapeutics a $2.0B minority investment on September 28. Family offices pursue health care for both financial and mission alignment, which creates longer hold horizons. Managers with therapeutic or platform biotech strategies tend to resonate most with this investor base.
5. Consumer Discretionary
177 transactions | $34B total value
Financials held fifth place in September, with deal count more than doubling from 115 in August to 244 and total value rising from $26.7B. Activity spanned insurance distribution, banking, capital markets services, and payments. The Baldwin Group's $7.7B take-private on September 14 was the sector's standout deal, followed by WaFd's $3.9B reverse merger on September 7 and JTC Group's $2.3B take-private on September 1. Navitas Credit Corp. drew a $2.0B platform investment on September 1, and Priority Technology Holdings a $1.6B take-private on September 21. Specialty finance platforms and insurance brokerages continue to draw sustained family office interest, and take-privates of listed financial services firms were a recurring structure this month.
Dakota Marketplace tracks direct investment activity from family offices across every sector in this list, with deal-level detail on stage, round size, and target companies. If you're raising capital and want to know which family offices are already investing in your sector, see it here.
6. Financials
161 transactions | $29B total value
Consumer Discretionary held sixth place in September, with deal count rising from 112 in August to 177 and total value nearly doubling from $18.2B. Sports assets drove the largest deals again. The Seattle Seahawks drew a $9.6B strategic acquisition on September 3, and the Los Angeles Angels sold for $4.0B on September 2, together accounting for nearly 40% of the sector's total value. Global Business Travel drew a $6.3B strategic acquisition on September 29, Sandals Resorts International a $3.0B strategic acquisition on September 23, and Pizza Hut's business outside China a $1.575B asset purchase on September 1. Families with operating business backgrounds in consumer goods disproportionately deploy here, pattern-matching against the playbooks that built their original wealth. Consumer funds with brand-building expertise or specific channel specialization tend to raise most efficiently from family capital.
7. Communication Services
73 transactions | $2.558B total value
Communication Services climbed to seventh place in September, up from eighth, with deal count rising from 41 in August to 73. Network infrastructure led the sector. VodafoneZiggo's passive mobile tower infrastructure sold for $777M on September 8, roughly 30% of the sector's total value, and WIOCC Group drew a $300M minority investment on September 3. Fever raised $250M on September 17, Playfly Sports secured $250M in direct lending on September 2, and Hubble Network closed a $200M Series C on September 23. Capital in this sector often follows specific thematic conviction rather than sector-wide mandates. Specialization wins commitments here.
8. Consumer Staples
68 transactions | $5B total value
Consumer Staples climbed from tenth place in August to eighth in September, with deal count rising from 37 to 68. It tied Materials at 68 transactions and ranked ahead on total value. Huel drew a $1.2B strategic acquisition on September 4, and Brakebush Brothers followed with a $1.055B strategic acquisition on September 30. Au Vodka sold for $673.4M on September 14, and Condis Supermercats secured $354.5M in direct lending on September 9. Activity concentrates in food and beverage platforms, a sector family offices favor for its cycle resilience and the prevalence of family-controlled companies available for minority stakes or generational transition deals.
9. Materials
68 transactions | $5B total value
Materials ranked ninth by count in September, with deal count rising from 53 in August to 68, but total value fell sharply from $29.8B as the two mega-deals that defined August did not repeat. Prince & Izant's $1.066B carve-out on September 28 led the sector, followed by Ivano-Frankivskcement's $857M strategic acquisition on September 23 and Metra's $744.7M carve-out on September 14. Vista Gold drew a $427M strategic acquisition on September 20, and the Cozamin underground copper mine sold for $385M on September 26. Fund managers should note the shift from August's concentration in specialty chemicals to a broader mix of construction materials, mining assets, and carve-outs, and should position around input security for domestic manufacturing and critical minerals when approaching this investor base.
10. Utilities
56 transactions | $27.5B total value
Utilities rounds out the top 10 in September, edging out Energy's 40 transactions for the final spot despite Energy carrying $27.5B in total value, the seventh-highest of any sector. ONEOK drew a $9.0B minority investment on September 10, accounting for roughly 58% of Utilities' total value. Utility Innovation Holdings followed with a $2.6B strategic acquisition on September 2, and Pilot Water Solutions drew a $715M strategic acquisition on September 24. Renewable power and storage attracted both equity and credit, with Faraday Solar Plant at $638M, Aukera's $532.7M in structured credit, and Form Energy's $270M asset-based loan. Family offices deploy in Utilities for yield, inflation hedging, and long-duration asset exposure. Infrastructure funds with grid modernization or energy storage positioning raise efficiently from family offices building out alternatives allocations.
From Sector Trends to Targeted Outreach With Dakota Marketplace
Sector-level patterns like the ones above only drive fundraising outcomes when you can act on them at the family-by-family level. Dakota Marketplace is built for that workflow, tracking direct investment activity across every sector covered in this post with deal-level visibility into stage, round size, and target companies. Every record is a verified transaction, not a response to a questionnaire about investment intentions.
What family offices do with their capital is more reliable than what they say about their capital. Dakota tracks the former.
Two patterns from the data consistently shape how fund managers work the database:
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Direct investment history is the best predictor of future fund commitment. A family office with a documented run of direct deals in a given sector is a priority prospect for a fund manager raising in that same space, even without prior fund commitments on record. Dakota's transaction data surfaces these families before competitors identify them.
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Deal value concentration matters as much as deal count. Industrials ranked second by transaction count in September but first by dollar value at $64.3B, while Energy missed the top 10 by count yet carried $27.5B. Filtering by deal size alongside sector tells a more complete story than count alone.
Filter by sector and sub-sector investment history, stage (venture, growth, buyout, credit) and deal size, or geographic concentration to build a targeted prospect list.
The family offices investing directly in your sector today are the fund commitments you should be sourcing for next quarter. Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace and start finding them.
