The database referenced is Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
Private market investing keeps expanding, but the tools built to track it have consolidated fast. Preqin was acquired by BlackRock in 2024 for $3.2 billion. S&P Global agreed to acquire With Intelligence for $1.8 billion in a deal that closed in late 2025, folding its private markets data into S&P Capital IQ Pro. For allocators, consultants, and fund managers, that consolidation changes which platforms are still independent, and which are becoming features of a bigger suite.
This article reviews the databases most commonly evaluated for private fund research and fundraising in 2026, and where each one still stands on its own.
Top Private Equity Fund Databases
PitchBook
PitchBook remains a go-to resource for private equity professionals tracking global capital markets. The platform covers private equity-backed companies, investors, deals, funds, and key contacts, including deal terms, multiples, valuations, dry powder, and IRR.
PitchBook is built for deal sourcing, due diligence, and market analysis. Its strength is deal and valuation data, not allocator sales intelligence, and it remains Morningstar-owned with pricing that scales with seats and data modules rather than a published rate card.
Best for: deal sourcing teams and analysts who need fast, verified deal and valuation data.
Preqin
Preqin covers alternative asset data across private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure, and other alternatives, including fund performance metrics, investment strategies, and historical trends. Investor profiles include investment preferences, historical commitments, and contact details, alongside benchmarking tools and deal-tracking capabilities.
Preqin was acquired by BlackRock in 2024 for $3.2 billion, pairing its dataset with BlackRock's Aladdin and eFront platforms (BlackRock, 2024). Preqin continues to operate as its own data product, but the acquisition signals where the largest asset manager in the world sees value in private markets data.
Best for: benchmarking fund performance and building broad, cross-asset-class alternative investment research.
Dakota Marketplace
Dakota Marketplace takes a different starting point than the platforms above: it's built for fundraising teams, not research teams. Every allocator account in Dakota allocates to outside managers, and the platform is updated daily by a dedicated data team rather than refreshed on a quarterly research cycle.
Beyond core account and contact data, Dakota layers in intelligence built specifically for the sales motion: daily public plan minutes, active institutional searches, manager presentations delivered to public pensions, and Form D filings by strategy. Fund managers use it to know who to call, what that allocator is looking for, and when the timing is right, not just to understand the broader market.
Best for: fundraising and business development teams who need a daily, contact-first workflow rather than a research terminal.
If your team is weighing a research platform against a fundraising-focused one, it helps to see the difference directly. Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace.
eVestment (Nasdaq)
eVestment is an institutional investment data and analytics platform, strongest around consultant relationships and manager benchmarking. As of January 2026, it covers 2,670 traditional managers and 2,195 hedge funds reporting, plus 16,108 GP profiles and 80,972 fund profiles in its private markets data (Nasdaq eVestment Data Coverage, January 2026).
Coverage depends on managers voluntarily reporting their own data, so gaps show up for emerging managers or firms that don't participate. eVestment also under-indexes on intermediary channels like family offices, RIAs, and wealth managers relative to its institutional depth.
Best for: firms whose fundraising runs primarily through institutional consultants and large asset owners.
With Intelligence (now part of S&P Global)
With Intelligence built its name on private markets data, insights, and networking across private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and real estate. That's changing: S&P Global's acquisition closed in late 2025, and With Intelligence's data is now being integrated into S&P Capital IQ Pro, alongside S&P's iLEVEL and Valuations tools (S&P Global, 2026).
For fund managers, this means With Intelligence is less of a standalone subscription decision going forward and more of a data layer inside a larger S&P Global research suite. Firms already on Capital IQ Pro may pick up much of what With Intelligence offered without a separate contract. Firms not on Capital IQ Pro should expect the standalone product to wind down over time in favor of the combined platform.
Best for: firms already invested in the S&P Capital IQ Pro ecosystem who want private markets data in the same workflow.
Which Database Is Right for Your Team?
The right choice depends on the job the database needs to do:
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If your priority is…
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Consider
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Broad cross-asset-class research and benchmarking
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Preqin
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Deal sourcing and valuation data
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PitchBook
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Institutional consultant relationships
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eVestment
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Private markets data inside an existing S&P Capital IQ Pro workflow
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With Intelligence
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Daily allocator contact intelligence for active fundraising
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Dakota Marketplace
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Many firms run two subscriptions at once: a research platform for diligence and benchmarking, and Dakota Marketplace for the daily fundraising motion. That combination is common and reasonable. The mistake is expecting a research-first platform to carry your sales team's pipeline, or a sales-first platform to replace deep diligence work.
For more information on Dakota Marketplace, book a demo.
