The investment landscape is undergoing a marked transformation as the private markets space has generated increasing interest among new classes of investors. This shift reflects a broader rethinking of diversification, return potential and portfolio construction strategies. As interest in private equity and private credit continues to expand, S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is positioned to support this growing demand through innovative index-based solutions that promote transparency, efficiency and accessibility.

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Retail Investors: Unlocking Access to Private Markets

Private markets—which include private equity, private credit and others—have historically been the domain of institutional investors. Today, retail investors are rapidly gaining interest—U.S. retail fundraising in alternative investments reached USD 122 billion in 2025, and a State Street survey reported that 56% of institutional investors expect retail-style vehicles to account for over half of private market fund flows by 2027.²

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Private markets currently represent roughly 10%-15% of global assets, and retail investor allocations remain well below that range in the U.S.,³ even though U.S. households controlled an estimated USD 90 trillion in total financial wealth by the end of 2024.⁴

Within this wealth pool, the mass-affluent segment (generally defined as USD 500,000-USD 2 million in investable assets) and the affluent group (USD 2 million-USD 5 million) together account for 36% of U.S. households. While these segments play a significant role in overall wealth distribution, their allocation weight in private markets remains disproportionately low—highlighting the potential for growth by better aligning their substantial investable assets with emerging private market strategies.⁴

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However, there are some barriers. Retail investors face high minimums, illiquidity, limited secondary markets, opaque fee structures and a lack of transparency. These longstanding obstacles have hindered broader participation—until now. The push toward democratizing access to private markets is gathering momentum.

S&P DJI is developing solutions to help bridge this gap. Through the development of index-based solutions that are transparent, cost-effective and scalable, S&P DJI is working to address these concerns associated with private assets, and to provide detailed insights and robust performance evaluation tools in the private equity and credit strategy space.

Institutional Investors: Rethinking Portfolio Construction with Alternatives

For institutional investors, private market investments are no longer considered peripheral, taking on an increasingly central role in portfolio strategy. Global pension funds are making substantial allocations to private markets, now totaling more than USD 10 trillion.⁵ In many cases, alternatives account for over 25% of institutional portfolios.

Institutions are increasingly drawn to private markets for their return potential, diversification benefits and relative resilience in volatile public market environments. However, challenges remain: limited transparency, illiquidity and single-manager risk still shape decision-making.

As a result, institutional investors could be turning to index-based private markets solutions that can offer:

• Cost-efficient implementation;
• Fast and scaled deployment of alternatives;
• Greater transparency and benchmark comparability; and
• Diversification with less manager concentration risk.

By leveraging index-based solutions, institutions aim to strike a balance between the potential benefits of private market participation while mitigating the traditional constraints associated with these investments. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that investing in private markets will differ from public markets, and that retaining these unique characteristics is part of the value proposition. Education will also play a critical role in helping investors understand the nature of private markets and how index-based approaches can enhance transparency.

Innovating Participation and Transparency in Private Markets

As a global leader in indexing, S&P DJI is playing a central role in reshaping tools that enable participation in private markets for both retail and institutional investors. S&P DJI’s role in private markets starts with our collaboration with Cambridge Associates, providing industry-standard benchmarks for private fund performance. We also publish indices that are designed to measure listed private equity and business development companies. Earlier this year, we introduced the S&P U.S. Private Stock Top 10 Index—our first step into indices with the objective of measuring late-stage venture-backed companies—reflecting the increasing availability of pricing data in this space. More recently, we launched the S&P Private Equity 50 Indices, which are designed to measure the performance of 50 of the largest available private equity funds for a year. The indices aim to provide market participants with an efficient and accessible view into leading North American and European private equity funds. The indices include:

• S&P Private Equity 50 2023 (Reserve – S&P 500) Index
• S&P Private Equity 50 2024 (Reserve – S&P 500) Index
• S&P Private Equity 50 2023 (Reserve – SOFR) Index
• S&P Private Equity 50 2024 (Reserve – SOFR) Index

As part of S&P Global, we continue to draw on enterprise-wide expertise and data to develop solutions across private equity, private credit and other evolving areas of private markets. These efforts are designed to increase transparency, lower barriers to entry and provide a consistent, data-driven framework for evaluating the performance of private markets.

With decades of expertise and deep relationships with a range of market participants across the ecosystem, S&P DJI is uniquely positioned to deliver index solutions that meet the evolving interests of both institutions and retail investors. By driving innovation in index design and creating trusted benchmarks for private markets, S&P DJI is helping to provide detailed insights and robust performance evaluation tools, enhance transparency and shape the future of private markets for the next generation.

1. Habbel, Markus et al. “Avoiding Wipeout: How to Ride the Wave of Private Markets.” Bain & Company. August 2024.
2. The “Retail Revolution” Will Drive 50%+ of Private Market Flows by 2027 – State Street Private Markets Survey | State Street Bank and Trust Company
3. Skolnik, Or et al. “Why Private Equity Is Targeting Individual Investors.” Bain & Company. 2023.
4. Household Wealth Surged 16% in 2024 on Stock Gains: Cerulli
5. “Global Pension Assets Hit Record High in 2024.” and “US Public Pension Funds Increased Allocations to Fixed Income in 2024.” Banking Exchange. Feb. 11, 2025, and March 4, 2025.

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