Data and insights into the forces, challenges, and innovations shaping the evolution of private markets

A growing market

The topic of private markets, and alternatives more broadly, has become increasingly prevalent across the wealth management landscape in recent years. An investment area that was previously restricted to institutions and ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients, private markets investments are being pushed downstream and increasingly made available across the wealth management landscape.

According to Standard & Poor’s, private markets assets under management (AUM) totalled approximately US$15 trillion in 2024 – up from US$11.87 trillion in 2023 and US$10.89 trillion in 2022. By 2027, they are expected to reach more than US$18 trillion. The market is believed to have grown by four or five times since the early 2000s.

Big numbers, significant growth, and still somewhat untapped – this all adds up to opportunity.

What are private market investments?

Private market investments are those that are not traded on public exchanges. For that reason alone, they have been difficult to access outside closed and limited-access networks. They have also been seen as much higher risk than their publicly traded cousins – with long lock-ins, high minimum investment thresholds, limited liquidity and control, little access to data or to increasingly technology-led processes and speeds more familiar in public markets, a perceived higher risk of loss, and so on. For these reasons, private market investments have until recently been the preserve of those with millions to allocate to each investment and the ability to accept the operational and financial risks.

In terms of what exists in the private markets sphere, we are talking about:

• Private equity (buyouts, growth equity, venture capital)
• Private credit (direct lending, distressed debt)
• Private real estate
• Infrastructure investments
• Secondaries and co-investments

All this has been outside the realm of the everyday investor, and these asset classes have only been at play in the private wealth space for UHNW individuals, family offices, and the like.

But the growing trend is to take them down-market. Not quite mass market yet, but in that direction.

Why are they growing in the wealth management landscape?

Historically, any discussion around these asset classes focused on the risk, the operational challenges, the lack of data and automation, the high entry requirements, the lack of liquidity, the need for specialist knowledge, and so on. These asset classes were not productised.

But now these assets are in favour with investors for a variety of reasons, including:

• Boosting returns. Private markets opportunities and asset classes like private equity have historically delivered higher long-term returns than many public investment solutions.
• Diversifying portfolios. Private market assets support diversification and have exhibited lower short-term correlation with public markets, helping to reduce volatility.
• Expanding investor access. Many investors feel on principle these assets should be more widely available: why should they be the preserve of the richest?

For private businesses, there are also clear factors leading them to remain private longer or to forgo going public. However, these businesses also have financing needs, have growth stories that would support investment, and so on. There is a clear need to better support them in the private sector through access to capital, growth investment, and related resources.

With this backdrop, we have a global theme at play: financial enablers in private markets are undergoing a long-term process to address operational challenges, introduce technology-enabled processes, systematise distribution and management, and productise the private markets arena for a wider range of investors. Although this is often portrayed as driven solely by buyer needs, in reality both buyer and vendor needs are at play. The enablers of this asset class – private equity investors, fund managers and other players in the financial services landscape – are also looking to broaden and diversify their distribution channels.

The result of these forces is that private-market investments are becoming an increasingly large share of the private wealth investment landscape.

Interested in reading more about private markets? Mosaic I is available to read in full here.

Allocations to private markets

Historically, data suggests that private wealth investors, on average, have allocated a maximum 5 percent to private market asset classes. This rises the higher up the wealth pyramid you go, especially in the UHNW segment.

But numbers are on the rise across the board.

According to Long Angle's 2026 High Net Worth Asset Allocation Report, 94 percent of high-net worth (HNW) investors now allocate to private and alternative assets. In their fifth annual benchmark study, Long Angle found that these investors allocate 28 percent of their total net worth and 31 percent of their investable portfolios to these asset classes. Of that, private company equity represents 12 percent, exceeding the total allocation to bonds and cash. Higher up the wealth pyramid, the allocations to private and alternative allocations reach 34 percent.

Another study by Hamilton Lane this year found that 97 percent of the 390 advisers surveyed globally allocate between 1 and 20 percent of their business to private markets. Further, 86 percent of these advisers expected to allocate more to private markets in 2026.

With margins under pressure, growth in private markets allocations is also good for business. According to PwC’s 2025 Global Asset & Wealth Management Report, private markets investments also generate about four times more profit per billion dollars of AUM than traditional investments. In the same report, PwC suggests that by 2030 private market revenues will reach US$432.2 billion from a total AUM of US$34 trillion, also delivering more than half of total asset-management industry revenues.

Bottlenecks

While private markets are growing in the wealth space, and multiple initiatives are in play to facilitate and extend the opportunity, there remain significant bottlenecks. These include:

• Knowledge, education and suitability: There remains a significant knowledge gap among both investors and advisers, and private markets might still not align with the risk profiles and goals of many investors.
• Operational and technological infrastructure: Historically, these were manually managed asset classes, where the structuring, onboarding, management, and reporting have been detailed, complex, and paper-based. Most industry technology was built for public markets, not private markets.
• Data and insights: There is a lack of available data, making insights around manager selection, monitoring, and reporting complex.
• Investment minimums and illiquid nature: High investment minimums make offerings hard to access, while long investment lock-in periods mean products are often highly illiquid.
• High fees and fee complexity: the model of a standard 2 percent management fee plus 20 percent performance fee, plus the potential complexity of fee structures, make these asset classes less attractive to newer investors.
• Regulatory environment: Many products are limited to accredited investors, while the costs of the compliance processes can be extensive.

Productisation

To break down barriers and support the growth opportunity, the industry is working to make private market investments easier to access, manage, report on, and exit. This is happening in multiple ways:

• Lower investment minimums, including:
  • Private market feeder funds and interval funds
  • Registered alternatives, such as private funds under securities laws in the United States
• Retail‑friendly structures, including:
  • Closed-end funds with periodic liquidity
  • Interval or tender offer funds
  • Business development companies (BDCs)
• Digital platforms and distribution channels, including:
  • Online investment platforms such as Altive, Bite Investments, CAIS, iCapital, Delio, Moonfare, Private Markets Alpha, Titanbay, etc.
  • Fractionalised ownership and tokenisation
• Expanded regulatory rulings, including:
  • Updated regulatory frameworks in markets like the United Kingdom, the European Union, and United States, that allow non-qualified or ‘retail’ investors to buy
  • Initiatives such as the UK’s long-term asset funds, European long-term investment funds, US interval funds, Singapore’s proposed long-term investment fund, etc.
• Structured products, including:
  • Certificates linked to private market indices
  • Notes or structured solutions tied to private asset baskets
  • Funds of funds with liquid share classes
• Modelling and tooling, including:
  • Risk/return modelling incorporating these asset classes
  • Suitability and advisory tools to determine appropriate exposures 
• Benchmarking and index‑linked solutions, including:
  • Private market indices
  • Index‑linked products
  • Model portfolios with private allocations
• Secondary markets, including:
  • Facilitated liquidity solutions, where investors can buy and sell existing private market positions prior to fund maturity
  • Dedicated secondary funds and platforms that aggregate and match buyers and sellers of private assets
  • Technology-enabled marketplaces that improve price discovery, transparency, and transaction efficiency

Key industry initiatives and developments

Across the market, we see a consistent flow of initiatives in terms of new market entrants, including technology and data offerings, new partnerships to support distribution, and new investment product launches. Large organisations including UBS, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs have all built dedicated private-market distribution channels. Smaller wealth managers, including financial advisers, private banks, and registered investment advisers, although they may also strike direct deals with product manufacturers, are also more likely to engage through some of the platform providers mentioned above.

Conclusion

Private markets are transitioning from a niche, institutionally dominated asset class into a more accessible and increasingly integral component of the broader wealth management landscape. Strong growth in AUM, rising investor allocations, and the search for enhanced returns and diversification all point to sustained momentum.

But this expansion is not without friction. Structural challenges – including illiquidity, complexity, data limitations, and regulatory constraints – continue to temper widespread adoption. The industry is responding to address these barriers through product innovation, technological enablement, and evolving distribution models.

Ultimately, the trajectory of private markets will depend on how effectively stakeholders balance accessibility with suitability and risk management. If executed well, private markets have the potential to redefine portfolio construction and unlock new sources of value for a much wider investor base.

Interested in reading more about the news, insights, and trends shaping wealth management today? Mosaic I is available to read in full here.

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About The Wealth Mosaic
The Wealth Mosaic is a UK-headquartered online solution provider directory and knowledge resource, focused specifically on the wealth management industry.

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