In 2013, US private equity and venture capital turned in their best annual performance since 2006 and 1999, respectively. Strong returns from the large sectors, particularly financial services in the private equity benchmark and information technology (IT) in venture, contributed most to the indexes’ results. In the five years between 2009 and 2013, private equity earned positive returns in all but three quarters and venture capital rose in all but two quarters, as indicated by the Cambridge Associates LLC benchmark indexes of the two alternative asset classes. While both private asset classes had strong absolute results in the fourth quarter of 2013, only venture capital outperformed public equities; for the year, neither private investment benchmark bested public equity returns. During the ten-year period ending in 2013, private equity significantly outperformed venture capital and both private asset classes outpaced the public markets.

The Cambridge Associates indexes are derived from performance data compiled for funds that represent the majority of the institutional capital raised by private equity and venture capital partnerships. The Cambridge Associates LLC US Private Equity Index® includes funds raised between 1986 and 2013 and the Cambridge Associates LLC US Venture Capital Index® represents funds raised between 1981 and 2013.