01
The global secondary market broke volume records in 2025, becoming the largest year ever.
02
Catalysed by structuring innovation from incumbent players, new entrants with direct PE/VC backgrounds.
03
Venture secondaries experienced heightened investor activity in 2025.
04
Acceleration is being driven by the proliferation of AI.
Volume breakdowns 2025
$115b
GP-Led Volume
29
GP-Led Deals Over $1b
$125b
LP Volume
27
LP Deals Over 1b
$240b
Total Volume
48%
YoY 2025 Volume Increase
Source: Jefferies Global Secondary Market Review - January 2026
Primaries
- Traditional investment type for Venture capital or Private Equity funds.
- Typically capital raises led by active fund managers.
- These fund managers have dedicated strategies focused on multiple bets, often with a single star asset per fund.
- Highly oversubscribed with scale back.
- Short turnaround.
Tenders
- Structured tenders by the company for both primary or secondaries.
- Secondary tenders are typically managed by the company offered to multiple lead fund managers and institutional investors.
- Companies run these as organised processes to provide employee and shareholders liquidity.
- Highly oversubscribed with scale back.
- Short turnaround.
Delta-G Focus
GP-Led secondaries
- General Partner (GP)(fund manager) initiates the sale, to extend holding periods.
- The GP creates a cap table fund and/ or SPVs.
- The GP transfers portfolio companies from an aging fund into a new one.
- Existing LPs (investors) can roll over, cash out. This gives GPs more time to nurture winners while offering LPs liquidity.
- GP offers access to new investors into cap table fund and/or SPVs that holds portfolio company.
Direct secondaries
- Existing shareholders (founders, employees or investors) in company sell their shares.
- Typically, founders wanting liquidity without an exit, employees with vested stock options, or early angel investors looking to cash out partially.
- Direct share purchases from individual shareholders, dealing with rights of first refusal (ROFR) or approval rights over these transfers.