Is patience still a virtue when it comes to private markets data?
By Patrick Wong, CFA, Account Executive, Institutions at Canoe Intelligence, a Bloomberg company
Patience is a defining virtue of private markets, to the point where it is almost an article of faith. Investors commit capital for years rather than months, accepting illiquidity, long holding periods and infrequent valuations in pursuit of long-term value creation.
Historically, that patience has been accompanied by a degree of opacity. Investors accepted delayed reporting, periodic snapshots of performance, and limited visibility into underlying holdings. That was simply how private markets operated.
In 2026, however, the democratisation of private markets and advances in technology are evolving expectations around access to information. Patience remains a virtue, but investors are increasingly unwilling to accept that it comes at the cost of visibility.
New expectations
New investment structures have broadened access to alternative assets, once the preserve of large institutional investors with millions to commit over extended periods. Semi-liquid private market funds have moved from niche to mainstream, with these evergreen structures rapidly approaching $500 billion in AUM and growing more than 30% over the past 12 months through September 2025 alone, according to MSCI. Private markets, once primarily the domain of institutional investors, are now accessible through vehicles designed for broader distribution, including wealth investors, who represent about one-fifth of that AUM.
Institutional investors are drawn to these structures for a different reason than access. Unlike traditional closed-end funds, which call and return capital over a fixed lifecycle, evergreen vehicles let capital be deployed and redeployed continuously. For allocators managing complex, multi-strategy portfolios, that continuous deployment can smooth the J-curve, reduce cash drag, and give portfolio construction teams more control over pacing and exposure over time.
This expanding investor base, accustomed to greater visibility elsewhere in their portfolios, is bringing those expectations into private markets. Demand is growing for more frequent reporting, better access to portfolio information, and clearer explanations of risk.
Investors have long accepted illiquidity as the price of access to private markets. Increasingly, however, they are questioning whether opacity should be part of the bargain too. A CFA Institute study found that investment professionals’ top concerns in private markets centred on valuation reporting, performance measurement, and fee transparency
There are also signs that valuations may be shifting from a periodic exercise tied to reporting cycles toward something more continuous, thanks to volatility, investor scrutiny, and technology.
None of this is to argue, of course, that private markets investors seek the liquidity of public markets, or want to trade private assets at a moment’s notice. Patience is still a virtue. What they increasingly expect, however, is greater confidence in the decisions they make while remaining invested.
Open books, clearer views
The infrastructure supporting private markets has not kept pace with this shift. The demands of a larger and increasingly sophisticated investor base are for more visibility, but the industry still struggles to turn fragmented information into something accessible, reliable and useful.
Private markets information may be spread across databases or general partner portals, supplied in diverse formats like emails and PDFs. Limited partners must manually collate and reconcile information from a multitude of sources to build a complete portfolio picture. This is a time-consuming and error-prone process that diverts resources from higher value strategic work or asset performance analysis.
Technology and AI are helping to close that gap and provide visibility that matches the scale and sophistication of the asset class. By automating the collection and organisation of private markets data, investors can obtain a clearer view of their portfolios without increasing administrative burden or creating additional reporting demands for fund managers.
Investors remain willing to be patient with returns. They are becoming less willing to be patient with information.
Visibility is expected
Patience remains a defining characteristic of private markets. If anything, it is becoming more important as companies stay private for longer, capital remains invested for extended periods and investors continue to pursue the long-term value creation that differentiates the asset class.
What is changing is the assumption that patience requires limited visibility.
As private market allocations continue to grow and greater transparency becomes a standard expectation, institutional investors must have a deeper understanding of portfolio performance and exposures. This means not only being able to access and consolidate information from multiple sources, but also making sense of it and turning it into timely, actionable insight.
Institutions whose reporting and data infrastructure is able to keep pace with the scale and sophistication of today’s private markets will be best positioned to make informed decisions in an increasingly complex investment landscape.
Patience is still a virtue in private markets. Opacity is not.
About Canoe Intelligence
Canoe Intelligence (“Canoe”), a Bloomberg company, is the intelligence infrastructure powering how the world invests in alts. Our AI-native platform automates the manual data processing, cutting operational costs and risk while future-proofing alts infrastructure for long-term growth. Timely, accurate, and comprehensive data arms investment teams to act with the decisiveness of public markets. With Canoe, it’s all about making Alts, smarter. Learn more at canoeintelligence.com.
