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Latest News
2021 Q4 Venture Capital, Private Equity and Real Estate Benchmarks – available now
Upcoming changes to CA’s official vintage year definition for 2022 Q1 reporting – see our FAQ
For even the most sophisticated investors, measuring private investment performance can be challenging. Accurate performance metrics are therefore crucial to making your investment decisions. You need institutional quality benchmarks that you can trust.
Cambridge Associates, in partnership with IHS Markit, provides high-quality aggregate fund-level performance information to help you select fund managers, monitor performance, manage risk and identify investment opportunities.
Sourced directly from fund managers quarterly financial statements – Cambridge Associates Benchmarks are considered the industry standard for private equity, venture capital, real estate and private credit, offering:
Coverage across various fund sizes, stages, sectors, and regions
A complete suite of IRRs and by vintage returns
Performance history on 2,200+ fund managers and 8,600+ funds
The index is calculated based on data compiled from 2,203 U.S. venture capital funds, including fully liquidated partnerships, formed between 1981 and 2021.
The indices are calculated based on data compiled from 1,762 ex U.S. private equity & venture capital funds, including fully liquidated partnerships, formed between 1986 and 2021.
The index is calculated based on data compiled from 109 Australia private equity & venture capital funds, including fully liquidated partnerships, formed between 1997 and 2019.
Beginning with the 2022 Q1 performance quarter (released in July), CA’s definition of fund vintage year will shift from the legal inception date to the date of fund first cash flow, defined as the year of a fund’s first drawdown or capital call from its investors. The use of the date of a fund’s first cash flow to determine its vintage year reflects the evolution of best practices and will allow for more consistent comparisons to industry data. Via the Online Store, customers will have the option to purchase CA benchmark reports by either FCF or LID vintage year definitions.
Legal Inception Date (“LID”): Fund’s vintage year is assigned by the legal inception date, as noted in the financial statements. Historically, available CA reporting only followed the LID definition up until and including 2021 Q4 performance reporting.
First Cash Flow (“FCF”): Fund’s vintage year is assigned by the date of the fund’s first drawdown or capital call from its investors. As of 2022 Q1 performance reporting, CA’s official definition of fund vintage year will be FCF.
It is important that CA provides their clients (and the industry) with a standardized data set that can be appropriately compared against data sets and returns produced by other industry participants (limited partners, peer groups, etc.). While GIPS Standards recognize both the date of first cash flow (FCF) and legal inception date as acceptable vintage year definitions, the vast majority of industry participants today prefer the FCF definition.
Some funds will move from one vintage year to another and, as funds move, the composition of vintage year groups of funds change. An individual fund’s return is not impacted by this change, but changes to the funds included in each vintage year grouping will lead to some differences in benchmark sample sizes, available metrics, and “by vintage year” returns.
FAQ’s - Our strategic partnership
IHS Markit has entered into a strategic partnership with Cambridge Associates, a global investment firm with a strong presence in private capital markets and a leading provider of Private Investment Benchmarks.
As part of the partnership, IHS Markit has exclusive rights to distribute the Cambridge Associates benchmarks in aggregated and anonymous form via digital formats to end users, data redistributors and reporting and analytics platforms.
Cambridge Associates will remain responsible for fund manager relations, data collection, benchmark development and production, as well as managing the security and confidentiality of its datasets.
Institutions may license the Private Investment Benchmarks for multi-user access, official benchmarking and client reporting. This expanded data offering includes all indices available in the reports plus additional benchmarks and metrics, packaged into the following five families:
Private Equity
Venture Capital
Private Equity and Venture Capital Aggregated
Private Credit
Real Assets
To discuss licensing options and this expanded offering, please contact an expert here.
The historical performance records of over 2,200+ fund managers and 8,600+ funds representing nearly USD $6.3 trillion raised. Coverage includes all major fund asset classes, strategies and geographies dating back as early as the 1980s for most asset classes.
They serve as a valuable tool in numerous use cases, including: performance measurement and monitoring, risk management, valuation, asset allocation, investment due diligence and capital raising. For General Partners (GPs) and Limited Partners (LPs) specifically, the benchmarks can help identify investment opportunities, support the fund manager selection process and provide data-driven intelligence to improve portfolio returns and better manage risks.
The Cambridge Associates Private Investment Benchmarks will be available via several 3rd party platforms and redistributors.
Please contact an expert here, and a representative will reach out to assist you.
Now Available: Q4 2021 Preliminary Returns
Preliminary 1-quarter IRR calculations are available for all ecommerce benchmarks when at least 50% of active funds and prior period's NAVs have updated. All returns are calculated in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.
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