Carlyle Group's private equity unit bucked the trend in Q2 and posted realizations that both beat Street expectations and many of its peers. The firm's year-to-date distributions now total $6 billion, with an additional $4 billion expected once signed deals close.

“While the corporate private equity market broadly has faced criticism for low levels of capital returned to investors, we’ve defied that trend,” chief executive Harvey Schwartz told the earnings call.

Over the past twelve months, Carlyle’s buyout vehicles have sent back almost $15 billion—17 percent of cost and, he added, “3x the industry average.” He called the result “a really impressive achievement for our teams and fantastic for our investors” that “differentiates us in the marketplace compared to other firms.”

Across the platform, this year's proceeds have topped $33 billion and are up nearly 40 percent year over year; global private equity strategies provided 64 percent of that total.

The pace is “approaching levels not seen since 2022,” chief financial officer John Redett said. Distributable earnings from the private equity segment rose more than 16 percent to $232 million, buoyed by exits of Forgital, NSM Insurance and StandardAero.

The performance is a welcome boost for Schwartz, who inherited a firm on unsteady footing when he took the role in 2023, and who has faced his own ups and downs through his tenure.

The timing is especially beneficial in the context of Carlyle's fundraising efforts. The firm is preparing to launch its latest flagship buyout fund, Carlyle Partners IX, likely in the fourth quarter (pending performance of fund VIII). Newfound liquidity for existing limited partners should make it easier to secure new commitments.

Existing funds Carlyle Partners VII and VIII appreciated 3–4 percent in the quarter and 17–20 percent over the past year. The current flagship is posting a 21 percent gross and 10 percent net IRR.

It “is not going to be our best fund,” Redett conceded, but “what we’ve done is quite extraordinary” versus two years ago.

In July, Redett was promoted to co-president, alongside Mark Jenkins and Jeff Nedelman, and will take charge of Carlyle's $165 billion global private equity platform and the upcoming raise.

Beyond buyout, Carlyle’s credit and secondaries strategies are now the main drivers of fee growth (mirroring similar trends at many peers). They drew $13.4 billion of commitments in the quarter—beating the $10.5 billion analysts expected—and lifted firm-wide AUM to $465 billion. Fee-related earnings rose 18 percent to $323 million, helped by a greater than 50 percent revenue jump at secondaries arm AlpInvest.

• Brookfield Asset Management agreed to acquire part of Duke Energy's (NYSE: DUK) Florida business for $6 billion.

• Blackstone agreed to acquire Enverus, an energy data platform, from Hellman & Friedman and Genstar Capital for more than $6 billion.

• HistoSonics, a Minneapolis-based developer of liver cancer therapies, agreed to be acquired for $2.25 billion by an investor group including K5 Global, Bezos Expeditions, and Wellington Management.

• Western Midstream Partners (NYSE: WES) agreed to acquire Aris Water Solutions (NYSE: ARIS), a water infrastructure company with produced-water pipeline, handling and recycling capacity, for approximately $1.5 billion in an equity-and-cash transaction.

• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) agreed to sell its Anadarko Basin assets to Flywheel Energy for $1.3 billion.

• Firefly Aerospace, a commercial space company backed by AE Industrial Partners, raised $868 million in an upsized IPO.

• Brookfield Business Partners is selling partial interests in DexKo, CDK Global, and BrandSafway to a new evergreen private equity fund managed by Brookfield Asset Management for approximately $690 million.

• SERB Pharmaceuticals agreed to acquire Y-mAbs Therapeutics (Nasdaq: YMAB), a Princeton-based cancer therapy company, for $412 million.

• JMI Equity led a $355 million minority investment in First Due, a Miami-based public safety software developer, with participation from TCV and Serent Capital.

• Freeman Spogli acquired Philz Coffee, a specialty coffee chain, for $145 million from investors including Uncorrelated Ventures, TPG, Summit Partners, Cowboy Ventures, and Crunchfund.

• Bachan's, a California-based Japanese BBQ sauce brand, hired Centerview Partners to explore a sale, per Axios Pro. The company has raised $17 million from Prelude Growth Partners and Sonoma Brands Capital.

• BV Investment Partners acquired a majority stake in The Millennium Alliance, a P2P sales enablement platform.

• GreyLion Partners invested in Slipstream, a Pennsylvania-based technology partner for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, with participation from existing investor Denali Growth Partners.

• GHK Capital Partners acquired Rogers Building Solutions, a Georgia-based provider of HVAC and plumbing services to commercial and industrial markets.

• New Mountain Capital agreed to make a significant minority investment in Wipfli LLP, a professional services firm.

• Creo Capital Partners acquired Bova Fresh, a Boca Raton-based food procurement and logistics company.

• KKR acquired DentalXChange, an Irvine-based provider of revenue cycle management solutions for the dental market, from Bregal Sagemount.

• Lightview Capital acquired Vermana, an Orlando-based commercial pool services provider, with participation from Aldine and Patriot Capital.

• CCMP Growth Advisors acquired Airo Mechanical, a North Carolina-based provider of HVAC and plumbing services for multifamily and commercial properties, from Thomas Investments and Stephens Capital Partners.

• Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Elite, a provider of legal software and payment solutions, from TPG.

• Apollo agreed to acquire a majority stake in Stream Data Centers, a Dallas-based data center developer and operator.

• Macquarie Group agreed to acquire a minority stake in Portuguese hospital operator Luz Saude, outbidding CVC Capital Partners and KKR, per Bloomberg.

• Poalim Equity invested in Glassbox, an Israeli provider of digital experience analytics for financial institutions.

• Rocscience, a Canadian portfolio company of TA Associates, acquired Rockfield, a UK provider of numerical modelling software for energy and mining markets.

• Argosy Healthcare Partners acquired ORSS, a Chicago-based provider of operating room staffing solutions for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• Decart, a real-time video generation AI, raised $100 million in Series B funding at a $3.1 billion valuation from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, Zeev Ventures, and Aleph VC.

• Clay, a sales automation platform, raised $100 million in Series C funding led by CapitalG, with participation from Meritech Capital, Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, BoxGroup, Boldstart Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures, valuing the company at $3.1 billion.

• Lorikeet, an Australian AI startup for customer service automation across chat, email, and voice, raised $35 million in Series A funding led by QED Investors, with participation from Blackbird, Square Peg, Skip Capital, Capital49, Operator Partners, Airtree, and Athletic Ventures.

• Kustomer, an AI-powered customer service platform, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Norwest, with participation from Battery Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Boldstart Ventures.

• Tavily, a search platform that helps AI agents access live web data, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners and Alpha Wave Global, bringing its total funding to $25 million.

• D-Tools, a business management software provider for systems integration, raised $12 million in Series C funding led by StellarIQ, with participation from Greybull Stewardship.

• Kontext, a contextual advertising platform for AI applications, raised $10 million in seed funding led by M13, with participation from Torch Capital, Credo Ventures, and Parable VC.

• August, an AI platform for midsize law firms, raised $7 million in seed funding co-led by NEA and Pear VC, with participation from Afore Capital and several law schools.

Fintech

• Rillet, an ERP platform for finance teams, raised $70 million in Series B funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Oak HC/FT and earlier investors.

• Capitolis, a fintech platform for capital optimization in financial institutions, raised $56 million in new funding from Barclays, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley, State Street, UBS, Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and Greenfield Partners.

• Stavtar Solutions, a NYC-based business spend management and expense allocation platform for alternative asset managers, raised $55 million in Series A funding led by Elephant.

• Docyt, an AI accounting automation platform, raised $12 million in pre-Series B funding led by Pivot Investment Partners, with participation from existing investors.

Consumer & Media

• PodUp, a podcast creation and monetization platform, raised $5.8 million in Series A funding from North Texas Angel Network, HBS Alumni Angels Association, and other investors.

Healthcare

• Strand Therapeutics, a developer of programmable mRNA cancer therapeutics, raised $153 million in Series B funding led by Kinnevik, with participation from Regeneron Ventures, ICONIQ, Amgen Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, FPV Ventures, Playground Global, Eli Lilly and Company, ANRI, and Potentum.

• Chai Discovery, an AI platform for molecular design in drug discovery, raised $70 million in Series A funding led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Yosemite, DST Global Partners, SV Angel, Avenir, DCVC, Thrive Capital, OpenAI, Dimension, and Neo.

• Positive Development, a McLean, Virginia-based autism therapy provider, raised $51.5 million in Series C funding co-led by aMoon, B Capital, and Flare Capital Partners, with participation from Digitalis Ventures and Healthworx.

• Elion, an AI platform for healthcare technology vendor selection, raised $9.3 million in seed funding led by NEA, with participation from Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures, TMV, Scrub Capital, Alumni Ventures, Max Ventures, AlleyCorp, and Floating Point.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• DISA Technologies, a Wyoming-based uranium remediation and mineral recovery company, raised $30 million in Series A2 funding led by Evok Innovations with cornerstone investment from Constellation Technology Ventures, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Veriten, and Halliburton Labs.

• Wattch, an Atlanta-based provider of monitoring and control systems for solar and battery storage, raised $6 million in seed funding led by Spero Ventures, with participation from Helioscope.

• Painswick Capital Management, founded by former AEA Investors CEO John Garcia, raised $1.5 billion for its debut fund focused on single-asset continuation vehicles.

• Prelude Growth Partners raised $600 million for its third consumer packaged goods fund.

• Butterfly Equity raised $527 million for a single-asset continuation fund focused on Mexican fast-casual chain Qdoba.

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