Fundraising for private equity in 2024 proved to be an uphill battle for most. According to financial information and analytics provider S&P Global, private equity funds worldwide secured $680.04 billion last year, a 30% decrease from about $966.37 billion raised in 2023. Liquidity constraints among investors played a major role in this decline as global private equity exits fell to a five-year low of $392.48 billion, driven by a mismatch in valuation expectations between buyers and sellers. With limited cash distributions from existing fund positions, investors felt little urgency to redeploy capital, further dampening the fundraising landscape.
Data compiled Jan. 9, 2025.
Analysis includes capital raised and number of active and closed funds by global private equity funds covering all stratefies.
Private market trends data provided by Preqin.
Excludes funds with unknown primary geopraphic focus.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence.
© 2024 S&P Global
NAIC spoke with leaders from some of our member firms that defied the odds over the past year by attracting substantial institutional capital and exceeding their fundraising targets. Brewer Lane, IMB Partners, L2 Point, Mill Point Capital, o15 Capital Partners, OceanSound Partners, Ulu Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and Vista Equity Partners not only navigated a challenging fundraising environment but also demonstrated investment strategies and performance that resonated with institutional investors. Their ability to differentiate themselves in a competitive market offers valuable insights into what it takes to succeed in today’s private equity landscape.
View all Oversubscribed Funds by NAIC Members Firms (2010-2025)
It’s All in the Execution
In October, OceanSound Partners closed its Fund II with $1.49 billion in total capital commitments—and, together with affiliated co-investment vehicles and a single-asset continuation fund, raised $2.15 billion of total capital in connection with its Fund II. OceanSound’s Fund II significantly surpassed its original $1.3 billion hard cap and initial $1.0 billion target. Despite this success, Joe Benavides, CEO and Founder, remains focused on execution rather than fund size.
“I know a lot of people have egos about the size of the fund and whether it’s
oversubscribed, but that’s not our priority. We are focused on our business of finding
attractive new companies and putting them into the portfolio.”
Joe Benavides, CEO & Founder, OceanSound Partners
True to this philosophy, OceanSound has already invested in five companies from Fund II, making it 70% allocated, with capital remaining for two to three additional deals. However, Benavides acknowledges the need to look ahead. “We’ve got to start raising Fund III before we get caught without being able to deploy capital.”
OceanSound Partners has carved out a strong position in the private equity landscape by making control investments in middle-market technology and tech-enabled services companies that serve the aerospace, defense, government and enterprise end markets. That strategy is epitomized in the transformation of Trident Technologies, a provider of advanced IT, engineering, and programmatic solutions for the U.S. federal government. When OceanSound acquired the company in 2019, Trident generated $68 million in revenue and $12 million in EBITDA, with a workforce of 265 employees. Through a series of strategic acquisitions, OceanSound transformed and scaled the business, ultimately merging it with another company and rebranding it as SMX. Today, SMX has grown into a $1.5 billion revenue enterprise with $160 million in EBITDA and a 2,000-member workforce.
With 55 transactions under its belt, a team of nearly 50 professionals and over $4.5 billion in AUM, Benavides attributes OceanSound’s success to its consistency of execution. “Number one, we’ve got a very focused strategy in terms of our technology and government end markets with a long-tenured experience investing in these sectors, coupled with the resources we bring to source and make new control investments,” he explains. “Number two, from a transaction standpoint, we’ve been able to consistently prove to our investors that we can find businesses and execute against them at good values to transform the businesses. And then, lastly, we’re very good owners of these businesses as well because we have a structured, repeatable process for how we own companies.”
