Continuation funds have moved from niche structuring tools to mainstream instruments within private markets. What began as opportunistic solutions during periods of exit market dislocation has evolved into a structural component of the liquidity toolkit available to general partners. At their core, continuation vehicles allow a GP to transfer one or more portfolio assets from an existing fund, often approaching the end of its life, into a newly formed vehicle. Existing limited partners are offered a choice. Take liquidity at a negotiated price or roll their interest into the new structure and continue participating in the asset’s upside. New investors, often secondary funds, may also participate. The strategic rationale is straightforward. High-quality assets frequently continue compounding beyond the typical ten-year fund term. Volatile exit environments can make third-party sales suboptimal. Institutional investors increasingly value optional liquidity without forcing premature divestments. Yet while discussion often centres on valuation fairness and conflict management, the operational dimension of continuation funds remains underexamined. From an operational standpoint particularly for fund administrators, CFOs, compliance teams, and depositaries GP-led secondaries introduce a distinct and amplified risk profile.

As private markets evolve, so do the questions that define how fund operations are structured and delivered. What was once a matter of tools, efficiency, and process optimization is increasingly becoming a question of scalability, control – and ultimately, reliability of outcomes.

The shift is unfolding as the operational landscape becomes increasingly complex. Much of the industry’s attention remains focused on front-office innovation – new tools, new asset classes, new ways of creating value. But beneath this surface, a different transformation is taking place. A shift from tools to outcomes.

Asset-based financing is increasingly adopted by Private Credit managers. As many begin to launch strategies in Europe, GPs must ensure they have the expertise and frameworks to succeed.

Recent years have seen some of the world’s largest Private Equity players expanding into Private Credit. Several North American Private Equity giants are now running Private Debt platforms exceeding the AuMs of their traditional Private Equity franchise.
The Private Credit market, however, has grown not only in size but also in terms of breadth. The focus is increasingly shifting, from debt funds that pool investors funding into pure corporate credit, to lending through diverse asset-based financing (ABF) solutions.
Some market studies suggest that the ABF market is expected to top USD 9 trillion by 2029 . The total addressable market is estimated to be over USD 20 trillion . While organisations like Moody’s hold a more cautious view, they corroborate the shift from corporate lending to the ABF market . Undeniably, this shift is creating new opportunities for alternative lenders

How a casual conversation between friends turned into one of the defining investments of our first fintech fund – and a reminder that in venture capital, relationships still travel further than spreadsheets.

Most investment stories told in industry magazines start with a thesis. This one starts with a coffee in Berlin.

Sometime in 2021, I was catching up with Marie Wennergren, a good friend of mine who at the time was investing out of Fly Ventures in Berlin. We met, as we often did, somewhere between Mitte and Kreuzberg, and the conversation drifted, as it often does between venture investors, from personal life into deal flow. Marie had recently been looking at a London-based company called 9fin. Her words stuck with me: it was, in her view, one of the best companies she had seen in a long time. Coming from Marie, that was not a sentence to be filed away politely. It was a signal.