Jamie Dimon used his annual shareholder letter to call out private equity for its lack of public exits this year.

"With stock markets at all-time highs in recent months, it is a little surprising that private equity firms, which own close to 13,000 companies, have not taken greater advantage of healthy markets to take their companies public," the JPMorgan Chase chief executive wrote.

He noted that holding periods have stretched to roughly seven years, "virtually double what it used to be." And he also commented on the proliferation of continuation funds with some derision.

Though he was talking his book, the general message was that sponsors should take the exit before the exit disappears.

"We have generally had nothing but a bull market since the great financial crisis — it's hard to imagine what will happen if and when we have an extended bear market," he wrote.

In 2025, global sponsor-backed offerings rose 36 percent over the prior year, but off such a depressed base that the increase barely registered. The year did include a couple of notable listings: Hellman & Friedman's $4.2 billion offering of Sweden's Verisure and the $7.2 billion Medline IPO led by Blackstone, Carlyle, and Hellman & Friedman. The latter, closing out the year, was supposed to signal building momentum for 2026.

In February, Goldman Sachs strategists projected total IPO proceeds would reach $160 billion in 2026 — more than three times the roughly $48 billion raised by companies the prior year, excluding SPACs. The team expected deal count to nearly double to 120 listings.

Those projections now look optimistic, thanks in part to the 'SaaSpocalypse' and rising geopolitical tensions.

The software pullback, in particular, has been an unfortunate trend for sponsors given their broad exposure to the sector. Between 2020 and the first half of 2025, roughly a fifth of all buyouts in North America were tech deals, according to Bain & Co.

The S&P North American technology software index's enterprise value as a multiple of forward EBITDA has now fallen more than 30 percent since 2021. For a company to simply keep its valuation static against that compression, it would need average annual EBITDA growth of nearly 15 percent.

Unsurprisingly, that’s led to a slowdown in public markets software exits.

At the end of March, Hg announced it would delay the €19 billion IPO of software group Visma until 2027, which had been expected to be London's largest this year. Blackstone also delayed a planned offering for advertising technology company Liftoff Mobile.

So, while Dimon may yet see more capital markets business from sponsors this year, he'll probably have to do without much activity from one of private equity's most active sectors of the last decade.

• Cohere, a Toronto-based enterprise AI company valued at $7 billion, is in talks to merge with Aleph Alpha, a German AI firm, with Berlin's support for a potential deal, per Handelsblatt.

• Kuwait Petroleum Corporation is exploring a $7 billion stake sale in its crude oil pipeline network, with early-stage interest from BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Asset Management, EIG Partners, KKR, Macquarie, and Stonepeak, per Bloomberg.

• Corient acquired Vivaldi Capital Management, a Chicago-based RIA with $5.6 billion in AUM focused on alternative investments for high-net-worth clients, from its employee-owners.

• General Atlantic acquired TEAM Services Group, a home care provider for seniors and individuals with long-term disabilities, for around $3 billion from Alpine Investors.

• Seven & i Holdings has delayed the planned IPO of its North American convenience-store subsidiary 7-Eleven Inc. to fiscal year 2027 at the earliest, citing the need for more time to turn around the business amid uncertain market conditions and weaker-than-expected U.S. performance.

• Ares Management (NYSE: ARES) agreed to acquire Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR), a retail-focused REIT, for $1.7 billion.

• Unilever (NYSE: UL) agreed to acquire Grüns, a greens supplement gummy brand, for $1.2 billion.

• Francisco Partners has hired JPMorgan to find a buyer for MyFitnessPal, a fitness and nutrition tracking app that could be valued at over $1 billion, per Reuters.

• Charlesbank Capital Partners led a growth investment in Bridgepointe Technologies, a San Mateo, California-based technology advisory and enablement platform, alongside Carlyle AlpInvest, at a valuation of over $1 billion.

• A consortium of Rederiaktiebolaget Gotland AB, Interogo Infrastructure, and Lægernes Pension agreed to acquire a 30% stake in Nordic Ferry Infrastructure, a pan-Nordic ferry infrastructure operator, from EQT for around €510 million.

• Ara Partners acquired Sedron Technologies, a waste upcycling company, and committed up to $500 million to scale its operations, per Axios Pro.

• Blackstone acquired a 49 percent stake in Rowan Digital Infrastructure, a hyperscale data center developer, from Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners.

• Council Capital acquired MedicalServiceQuotes, a PaaS platform helping payers and employers procure and manage ancillary benefits and pharmacy services.

• Numa acquired Ficus, an AI-powered sales platform for automotive dealerships.

• Havencrest Capital Management completed a majority recapitalization of OFFOR Health, a Columbus, Ohio-based provider of office-based anesthesia services for pediatric dental procedures.

• Remote, an HR and payroll platform, acquired Bravas, a Paris-based identity and device management software company.

• ZRG, backed by RFE Investment Partners, acquired Howard Fischer Associates, a Philadelphia-based executive and board search firm.

• Avista Healthcare Partners acquired Bentec Medical, a Woodland, California-based maker of silicone-based medical device components, from Greyrock Capital Group and Hermitage Equity Partners.

• Baymark Partners acquired Katydid, a Dallas-based wholesale handbags, apparel, and accessories brand.

• TPG has hired Maybank and UBS to evaluate strategic options for Asia OneHealthcare, a Malaysian hospital operator, including a potential sale or IPO, per Bloomberg.

• Serie A, Italy's top soccer league, has hired JPMorgan and sounded out private equity investors including Apollo, Ares, and CVC about a potential minority stake in its international media rights business, per Reuters.

• Dynatrace (NYSE: DT) agreed to acquire Bindplane, an observability pipeline software provider, from Edison Partners.

• Nordic Capital is considering the sale of Ole & Steen, a Danish bakery chain, which could fetch several hundred million euros, per Bloomberg.

• Aero Accessories & Repair, a portfolio company of ATL Partners, acquired New Generation Aerospace and Tri-County Aerospace, Miami-based aerospace MRO providers specializing in component rewind and power generation services.

• Bregal Sagemount invested in Redgate Software, a U.K.-based database DevOps and lifecycle management platform.

• ATC Group, a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners, acquired PAS MRO, a Bristow, Oklahoma-based aerospace bearing repair specialist.

• CenterGate Capital acquired Spartaco Tool Group, a professional-grade tools provider for utility and telecom linemen and technicians, from Platte River Equity.

• Mission Critical Group, backed by Emerald Lake Capital Management, acquired TxLa Systems, a Texas-based manufacturer of electrical switchgear and modular systems.

• Westnet LLC, a portfolio company of Armory Capital, acquired Low Voltage Installations Inc., a Golden, Colorado-based provider of fire station alerting and dispatch systems.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• SiFive, an SF-based developer of RISC-V processors for data centers, raised $400 million in Series G funding at a $3.65 billion post-money valuation led by Atreides Management, with participation from Apollo Global Management, Nvidia, Point72 Turion, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Prosperity7 Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures.

• Elorian, a Palo Alto-based visual reasoning AI lab, raised $55 million in seed funding at a $300 million valuation, co-led by Striker Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Altimeter, with participation from Nvidia.

• AfterQuery, an SF-based data research lab, raised $30 million in Series A funding at a $300 million valuation led by Altos Ventures, with participation from The Raine Group and Y Combinator.

• Q-Factor, an Israeli neutral atom quantum computing company, raised $24 million in seed funding co-led by NFX and TPY Capital, with participation from Intel Capital, Korea Investment Partners, and Deep33.

• Rork, an AI platform for building mobile apps using natural language, raised $15 million in seed funding led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from Peak XV, True Ventures, Goodwater, and a16z Speedrun.

• Haast, a NYC-based enterprise compliance platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from DST Global Partners, Airtree, Aura Ventures, and Black Sheep Capital.

Fintech

• Paysend, a U.K.-based international money transfer company, raised $25 million in follow-on funding from Claret Capital Partners.

• Pipe, an embedded capital platform for small businesses, raised $16 million in new funding co-led by Fin Capital and MaC Venture Capital.

• Juno, an SF-based tax prep automation startup, raised $12 million in seed funding led by Bonfire Ventures, with participation from Impression Ventures and Xfund.

Consumer & Media

• ShengShu, a Beijing-based AI video startup, raised $293 million in new funding led by Alibaba Cloud, with participation from Baidu Ventures, Luminous Ventures, TAL Education Group, LINK-X Capital, and Delta Capital.

• Packz, a gamified collectibles platform, raised $10.7 million in total funding from Makers Fund, The Raine Group, Courtside Ventures, Sharp Alpha Advisors, and RiverPark Ventures.

Healthcare

• Chapter, a Medicare navigation platform, raised $100 million in Series E funding led by Generation Investment Management, with participation from Fifth Down Capital, 8VC, Stripes, XYZ Venture Capital, Addition, Narya Capital, Susa Ventures, and Maverick Ventures.

• Luminai, an SF-based automation platform for healthcare operations, raised $38 million in Series B funding led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Define Ventures, General Catalyst, and Y Combinator.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• Treon, a Finnish predictive maintenance platform, raised €6.8 million in Series A extension funding led by ACME Capital.

• Court Square Capital Partners raised $3.8 billion for its fifth flagship middle market buyout fund.

• Mercer raised $3.8 billion for its eighth private markets fund.

• Arcmont Asset Management closed a $2.5 billion credit continuation vehicle led by Ares Credit Secondaries funds.

• Onex Partners closed a $1.6 billion multi-asset continuation vehicle holding investments in Fidelity Building Services Group, PowerSchool, and Sedgwick, backed by Neuberger Berman, GIC, Apollo S3, and StepStone Group.

• Warburg Pincus launched a €1.5 billion European defense investment platform with MEAG, the asset management arm of Munich Re, as an anchor backer.

• Royal Bank of Canada plans to launch a C$1 billion growth equity fund focused on Canadian companies.

• 154 Partners, a sports-focused lower middle market firm co-founded by former Blackstone colleagues Isaac Harrouche and Mike Berlin and backed by David Blitzer, raised $400 million for its debut fund at its hard cap.

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