Private Markets Intelligence for Endowments | Nasdaq eVestment™

Key Takeaway: As private markets become central to endowment portfolios, Nasdaq eVestment™ provides the data infrastructure—5,000+ GP profiles, 100,000+ documents, and forward-looking fund intelligence—that can help support disciplined, defensible investment decisions.

Endowments are rapidly expanding their private markets allocations—especially in private equity, private credit, and infrastructure—according to Mercer’s latest Endowments and Foundations Investment Survey. Interest is rising not only in traditional closed-end funds but also in evergreen vehicles, co-investments, and secondaries, as institutions seek differentiated returns and reduced exposure to public market volatility.

However, private markets still lack transparency. According to FundFire’s reporting on the Mercer study, market observers note that access and sophistication may vary across institutions, particularly disadvantaging smaller endowments that lack the resources and data depth of larger institutions.

As private markets become a core pillar of endowment portfolio construction, Nasdaq eVestment™ provides the infrastructure needed to operate confidently in this increasingly complex environment.

Private Markets Complexity: The Data Challenge for Endowments

Private markets have expanded at unprecedented speed. The Nasdaq Private Markets Fund Trends Report notes significant growth across both asset classes and structures—including evergreen funds, co-investments, and secondaries. This proliferation complicates manager comparison and due diligence.

The scale of options is enormous. Based on internal forward-looking modeling from Nasdaq eVestment TopQ+ and available market data, there are projected to be more than 1,800 private equity, private credit, and real asset funds coming to market in 2026, creating a volume challenge for investment teams that must evaluate managers consistently and efficiently.

With endowments diversifying across multiple private asset classes, each requiring its own research and benchmarking standards, centralized, high-quality intelligence becomes critical.
 

Data from the Nasdaq eVestment Institutional Trends Briefing showed an increased number of mandates in 2025 for private asset classes, including private equity, private debt, real assets and real estate.

Why Smaller Endowments Face a Private Markets Data Gap

Mercer’s data makes the disparity clear:

• Two thirds of five endowments larger than $1B have had private markets allocations for more than five years.
• 50% of endowments over $1B have launched or expanded private markets programs in the last two years. Only 7% of endowments with $50M or less have done the same.
• Nearly one in four endowments over $1B co-invest in alts alongside GPs.

Larger endowments benefit from deeper staff, long established processes, and richer data access—advantages smaller institutions often lack. Nasdaq eVestment™ helps support smaller institutions by expanding access to high-quality data resources.

Why Endowments Rely on Nasdaq eVestment™ for Private Markets Intelligence

Nasdaq eVestment™ delivers purpose built analytics supported by:

• 5,000+ general partner profiles
• 100,000+ investor and consultant documents, including investment recommendations, fee/terms analyses, pacing plans, and research reports

This creates a document verified view of fund performance, decisions, and manager behavior, enabling investors to identify risks and quality signals with precision.

For smaller endowments, Nasdaq eVestment™ bridges expertise gaps by offering institutional grade analytics without the need for additional headcount or multiple outsourced providers.

Key Features: How Nasdaq eVestment™ Supports Endowment Portfolios

1. Market Intelligence & Benchmarking

Nasdaq eVestment’s Market Lens offers fact based insights across all private asset classes—including niche segments such as specialty credit, timber, oil & gas, and emerging evergreen structures. Smaller investors can see how leading institutions allocate, benchmark, and select managers.

2. Streamlined Due Diligence

Multisource data accelerates screening and standardizes evaluation criteria, improving consistency across investment teams.

3. Transparency & Risk Management

Every data point ties back to original documents, supporting fiduciary oversight and reducing risks associated with operational issues, technical debt, or compliance gaps.

4. Forward-Looking Fund Intelligence

TopQ’s 5‑year rolling Forward Calendar shows which funds are preparing to launch.
With 83% of endowments citing market volatility as a key factor driving private markets expansion, this advance visibility enables strategic, proactive pacing.

5. Comparable Insights Without Maintaining Multiple Advisory Relationships

Integrated perspectives from Mercer, LSEG/Refinitiv, Preqin, and others provide institutional quality research to supplement, rather than replace, existing advisory relationships. 

Data from Nasdaq eVestment Market Lens shows that public plans made approximately 2,400 commitments worth over $273bn in 2025. Of those commitments, Private Equity, Private Debt and Real Estate accounted for approximately 70%.

How Nasdaq eVestment™ Improves Private Markets Decision Making

Endowments using Nasdaq eVestment™ report:

• More efficient due diligence workflows
• Stronger, more defensible portfolio decisions
• Clear audit trails supporting fiduciary governance
• Proactive—not reactive—investment planning

By aggregating market intelligence, performance data, and consultant insights in one platform, Nasdaq eVestment™ empowers endowments to anticipate market shifts, identify emerging opportunities, and execute disciplined allocation strategies.

The Strategic Imperative for Endowments

Given the rapid expansion of endowment private markets programs and the complexity of the investment universe, the real question is not:

“Can endowments afford sophisticated private markets tools?” but rather “Can they afford to invest in private markets without them?”

For endowments committed to building resilient, data‑driven private markets portfolios, Nasdaq eVestment™ is now essential infrastructure.

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DISCLAIMER: This content contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations. Actual results may differ materially.

Forward-Looking Statements: This content contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations and projections. Actual results may differ materially due to market conditions and other factors. Nasdaq undertakes no obligation to update these statements.

No Investment Advice: The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation regarding any investment product. Consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions.

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