Private Investment Benchmarks
in Collaboration with Cambridge Associates
A trusted, widely adopted and informed benchmark offering for private investments.
Our Services
Professional Resources
Equity
Fixed Income
Commodities
Multi-Asset
Sustainability
Dividends & Factors
Thematics
Digital Assets
Indicators
Other Strategies
Our Exchange Relationships
S&P DJI combines global reach with local expertise, working with exchanges around the world to build indices for both the local and international investment communities.
Research & Insights
Education
SPIVA®
For over 20 years, our renowned SPIVA research has measured actively managed funds against their index benchmarks worldwide.
Events & Webinars
Register to attend complimentary webinars and deepen your knowledge of current trends and issues impacting the index universe today.
SPICE
Your Gateway to Index Data
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Products
Speak with a sales specialist
1844 301 7334
News & Research
2024 Q3 Reports are Available Now
Get the latest Private Credit, Venture Capital, Private Equity and Real Estate reports.
The Rapid Rise of Private Credit
Discover the increasingly important role of private credit in the investment landscape, and its potential as an alternative source of yield and growth.
Cambridge Associates Benchmarks versus Public Indices
2023 was a dynamic year for private markets, characterized by varied results across equity, debt and real asset strategies.
For even the most sophisticated investors, measuring private investment performance can be challenging.
Cambridge Associates 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, our private investment benchmarks are considered the industry standard for private equity, venture capital, real estate and private credit.
Key Benefits
Industry Standard
For over two decades, the most trusted and widely adopted benchmarks for investors in private markets.
Data Source
Benchmarks based on financial statements sourced directly from investment fund managers.
Accuracy
Manager reported performance is independently verified from quarterly and annual audited financial statements.
Investment Experience
Benchmarks are built for investors by investors, incorporating four decades of experience investing in private capital markets.
Depth & Breadth of Data
All major fund asset classes, strategies and geographies dating back as early as the 1980s. Complete performance history from 2,500+ fund managers and 9,500+ funds across various fund sizes, stages, sectors and regions.
Representativeness
Indices calculated using institutional-quality funds, defined as closed-ended, co-mingled funds that invest third-party capital.
Data Feed Or Reports
Which is right for me?
Data Feed
Individual Reports
Authorized Usage
Authorized Usage
All applications, including benchmarking, performance reporting, fundraising and marketingAuthorized Usage
Internal and individual use onlyProduct Offering
Product Offering
Five new index families that include all standard Cambridge Associates benchmarks, legacy benchmark reports and additional data fieldsProduct Offering
Seven legacy benchmark reports now available on S&P Dow Jones Indices websitePreliminary Data
Preliminary Data
Yes1Preliminary Data
No2File Type
File Type
CSV (Excel)File Type
View onlyFrequency
Frequency
Quarterly + preliminary1Frequency
QuarterlyCalculated Currencies
Calculated Currencies
24 currenciesCalculated Currencies
USDDelivery
Delivery
SFTPDelivery
WebViewerLicense Type
License Type
EnterpriseLicense Type
Per user (up to 5 devices)Billing
Billing
Invoices (annual)Billing
Credit card (per report)[1]Daily updates of full suite of data after 50% of the prior quarter's number of funds and ending NAV report.
[2]Single 1-quarter IRR update available once per quarter after 50% of the prior quarter's number of funds and ending NAV report.
More Solutions for Private Markets
FAQs
What is new with the 2022 Q1 reporting?
Beginning with the 2022 Q1 performance quarter (released in July), CA's definition of fund vintage year shifted 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.
What is the difference between LID and FCF 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.
Why is CA adding the FCF vintage year definition?
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 (LID) as acceptable vintage year definitions, the vast majority of industry participants today prefer the FCF definition.
What are the impacts of changing from LID to FCF?
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.
Get insights delivered straight to your inbox
SIGN UP