The IR data room — fundraising timelines
How long does it take to raise a PE fund?
The honest answer in 2026: longer than your plan assumes. These are the published time-to-close figures — for the market overall and for first-time funds specifically — each with its named source, and what the clock means for a Fund I raise.
Median time to close, US PE funds, 2025
12.2 months
Down from 16.7 months in 2024 and 13.7 in 2023 — but on the smallest closing cohort since 2013.
PitchBook, 2025 Annual US PE Breakdown · 2026
Average time to close, all private capital
25 months
As of July 2025, up from 16 months in 2020. The whole market's clock, not just closed winners.
Preqin, fundraising blog · 2025
Median time to close, first-time funds, Europe
21.6 months
Extended from 19.6 months in 2024. First-time managers raised a combined EUR 2.3bn in the first nine months of 2025.
PitchBook, Q3 2025 European PE Breakdown · 2025
First-time US PE funds at final close, 2025
48
The lowest total since 2010. For comparison, 327 US PE funds of all vintages reached final close in 2025.
PitchBook, 2025 Annual US PE Breakdown · 2026
The clock
US PE funds: median time to close, by year
Months from launch to final close
The 2025 improvement is real but narrow: it describes only the 327 US funds that reached final close — the funds already far enough along to finish. It says nothing about how long the funds still open have been trying.
Source: PitchBook, 2025 Annual US PE Breakdown
European first-time funds: median time to close
Months from launch to final close
The clock for a debut fund in Europe ran two months longer in 2025 than in 2024, against a market where only 48 first-time US funds closed at all.
Source: PitchBook, Q3 2025 European PE Breakdown
First-time managers
The first-time fundraising gap
| Measure | Figure | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median time to close, first-time PE funds, Europe | 21.6 months (19.6 in 2024) | PitchBook, Q3 2025 European PE Breakdown | 2025 |
| Capital raised by European first-time managers | EUR 2.3bn, first nine months | PitchBook, Q3 2025 European PE Breakdown | 2025 |
| First-time US PE funds at final close | 48 — lowest since 2010 | PitchBook, 2025 Annual US PE Breakdown | 2025 |
| All US PE funds at final close | 327 — lowest since 2013, under one-third of the 2022 peak of 1,089 | PitchBook, 2025 Annual US PE Breakdown | 2025 |
| First-time VC funds at final close | 106 funds raising $4.6bn — down 77% year-on-year | Preqin, 2025 Global Report: Venture Capital | 2024 |
Source: Sources as listed per row
Reading the clock
What the timeline means for your raise
Budget against the 25-month clock, not the 2020 one
Teams still plan raises on the pre-2022 rhythm of roughly 16 months to close. The all-private-capital average had reached 25 months by July 2025. Model your runway, team capacity and LP meeting cadence against the longer number, and treat anything faster as upside — the funds closing in 12 months are the ones that arrived at their first meeting already Diligence-ready.
Read the 12.2-month median honestly
A median of 12.2 months for US funds closed in 2025 looks like good news until you see the cohort: 327 funds, the fewest since 2013. Fast closes concentrated in funds that needed no convincing. The median time for everyone else — the funds still open — is invisible in that figure, which is exactly why the all-capital average sits at 25 months.
A first-time fund runs on a different calendar
European first-time funds took a median 21.6 months to close in 2025, two months longer than the year before, and only 48 first-time US funds closed at all. LPs did not stop backing new managers — Adams Street's 2025 Global Investor Survey still found 54% of LPs expecting to allocate to new managers (Adams Street Partners, 2025) — but the diligence bar per allocation rose. The clock you cannot shorten is the LP's own committee cycle; the clock you can shorten is how long your DDQ, track record and reporting take to survive contact with it.
What this page does not claim
- No reliable public median exists for first-time funds globally; the European figure (21.6 months) is the only regional first-time median in this dataset, and it covers PE, not VC.
- The PitchBook (US PE) and Preqin (all private capital) series measure different universes with different launch and close definitions. They are not comparable and are not combined here.
- All three series describe funds that closed. Funds that stalled, re-launched or were quietly shelved never enter the denominator, so real time-to-close for a typical live raise is longer than any figure here.
Elsewhere in the data room
Figures are quoted from the named public sources for information only and were current at the dates shown. Verify against the original publication before using any number in fund materials. A fund raising on a 25-month clock cannot afford a diligence round that stalls — find out where yours would.
Start with the free DDQ readiness check. Or return to the main data room.