Database referenced is Joe, the private fund performance platform powered by Dakota. Learn More | Request Access
Institutional investors, family offices, consultants, fund managers, investment banks, and placement agents rely on private fund performance databases to evaluate managers, benchmark returns, conduct due diligence, and identify fundraising opportunities.
Below are some of the leading private fund performance databases available today.
Top Private Fund Databases
Best for: Integrated private fund performance, fundraising, and institutional investor intelligence
Joe takes the individual-and-named approach as its starting premise, not as an add-on to a pooled benchmark. It tracks Net IRR, TVPI, DPI, and RVPI on 18,000+ private funds — spanning private equity buyout, growth equity, venture capital, private credit, private real estate, infrastructure and real assets, secondaries, special situations, hedge funds, and fund-of-funds and evergreen structures — reported at the level of the specific, named fund that produced them, not folded into an anonymized cohort.
That distinction matters most when a diligence question isn't "where does this fund sit in a vintage-year cohort" but "how did this exact fund perform, and how has this exact GP's fund series trended over time." Every fund record connects to Dakota's GP and sponsor intelligence — 20,000+ investment firms — and the same allocator relationship graph that powers Dakota Marketplace, so a performance number sits next to the firm context a pooled benchmark strips out. The dataset updates daily and is queryable through Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot connectors, alongside API and MCP access.
Where Burgiss and Cambridge Associates require institutional relationships and Preqin and PitchBook run enterprise, quote-only contracts, Joe is priced at $9,500/year for up to 5 users, published openly — no quote-only sales process, no multi-month procurement cycle.
Best for: consultants, allocators, CIOs, GP/IR teams building track records, and secondaries buyers who need an individual, named fund's actual track record — not a pooled cohort position — without an enterprise budget or sales cycle.
2. Preqin
Best for: Comprehensive private markets benchmarking and fundraising intelligence
Preqin is one of the most recognized names in private markets data. Its platform covers private equity, venture capital, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, and hedge funds. In addition to fund performance, Preqin provides extensive information on institutional investors, fundraising, deals, and fund managers.
Strengths
- Extensive global coverage
- Strong benchmarking capabilities
- Large institutional investor database
- Well-established industry reputation
- Robust fundraising intelligence
Best For
- Institutional investors
- Placement agents
- Private equity firms
- Consultants
3. PitchBook
Best for: Integrated private capital, M&A, and company intelligence
PitchBook combines private company information, transactions, venture financing, M&A activity, fundraising, and fund performance into a single research platform. It is particularly popular with investment bankers, venture capital firms, corporate development teams, and private equity professionals.
Strengths
- Outstanding company intelligence
- Excellent transaction coverage
- Strong venture ecosystem data
- Integrated market research
- Valuation analysis
Best For
- Investment banking
- Venture capital
- Corporate development
- Private equity research
4. Burgiss
Best for: Institutional-quality private market performance measurement
Burgiss has long been regarded as one of the highest-quality sources for institutional private market performance data. Because much of its information is derived from limited partner cash flow reporting, it is frequently used by pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, consultants, and academic researchers.
Strengths
- Institutional cash flow data
- Highly regarded benchmark methodology
- Strong portfolio analytics
- Widely cited in academic research
- Excellent performance measurement
Best For
- Pension plans
- Endowments
- Sovereign wealth funds
- Investment consultants
Request access to Joe, powered by Dakota, and explore performance data on 18,000+ private funds alongside the allocator intelligence and fundraising workflows that set it apart.
5. Cambridge Associates
Best for: Institutional performance benchmarks and portfolio benchmarking
Cambridge Associates is best known for producing some of the most widely referenced private market benchmark indices used by institutional investors around the world. Its performance data supports investment committees, asset allocation decisions, and manager evaluation across private equity, venture capital, real estate, and private credit.
Rather than functioning primarily as a research database, Cambridge Associates is often used as the benchmark against which institutional portfolios and managers are measured.
Strengths
- Highly respected benchmark indices
- Long-term historical performance data
- Institutional credibility
- Asset allocation research
- Investment committee reporting
Best For
- Endowments
- Foundations
- Pension plans
- Investment committees
- OCIO providers
6. Hamilton Lane Cobalt
Best for: Portfolio construction and private markets analytics
Hamilton Lane’s Cobalt platform is designed primarily for institutional allocators managing diversified private market portfolios. Beyond fund performance, it provides sophisticated analytics for portfolio construction, pacing models, commitment planning, cash flow forecasting, and risk analysis.
Many large institutional investors use Cobalt to evaluate existing portfolios and optimize future commitments.
Strengths
- Portfolio analytics
- Commitment pacing
- Cash flow forecasting
- Scenario analysis
- Benchmarking tools
- Portfolio construction
Best For
- Pension plans
- Sovereign wealth funds
- Insurance companies
- Large family offices
- Institutional allocators
7. CEPRES
Best for: Deal-level transparency and private market analytics
CEPRES differentiates itself through its focus on underlying portfolio company and deal-level performance rather than relying solely on fund-level metrics. Its platform enables institutional investors to analyze realized and unrealized investments, operational performance, value creation drivers, and portfolio company outcomes.
For investors seeking deeper transparency into how returns are generated within a fund, CEPRES offers one of the most detailed analytics platforms in the market.
Strengths
- Deal-level analytics
- Portfolio company performance
- Value creation analysis
- Operational benchmarking
- Cash flow analytics
- Risk assessment
Best For
- Institutional investors
- Due diligence teams
- Investment consultants
- Large family offices
- Investment committees
Which Database Is Best?
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If you need…
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Recommended Platform
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Comprehensive private markets research
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Preqin
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Company research and deal intelligence
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PitchBook
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Institutional cash flow benchmarking
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Burgiss
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Fund performance plus fundraising and allocator intelligence
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Joe powered by Dakota
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Institutional benchmark indices
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Cambridge Associates
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Portfolio construction and analytics
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Hamilton Lane Cobalt
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Deal-level transparency and portfolio company analytics
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CEPRES
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Choosing the Right Private Fund Performance Database
Each platform serves a different segment of the private markets ecosystem. Preqin and PitchBook are broad market intelligence platforms, Burgiss and Cambridge Associates are deeply embedded with institutional investors, Hamilton Lane Cobalt focuses on portfolio management, and CEPRES emphasizes deal-level analytics.
Dakota Marketplace occupies a distinctive position by combining performance data on more than 18,000 private funds with institutional investor intelligence, fundraising workflows, CRM capabilities, and GP research in a single platform. For organizations that need both performance benchmarking and capital-raising intelligence, that integrated approach can reduce the need to use multiple disconnected systems.
To see how Joe brings private fund performance and fundraising intelligence together in one platform, request access.
