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Private Markets | 1 min read

HarbourVest 2026 Mid-Year Private Markets Outlook

Prepared by HarbourVest Partners

HarbourVest’s recent 2026 Mid-Year Private Markets Outlook begins with a single idea: Macro forces are increasingly connected. The consequences are not.
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HarbourVest Mid-Year Outlook

HarbourVest 2026 Mid-Year Private Markets Outlook: Idiosyncronicity Decoded

The defining feature of today’s market is that macro forces including AI disruption, interest rates, geopolitical fragmentation, and pockets of credit stress are interacting in synchronized and mutually reinforcing ways. In this report, HarbourVest examine how that dynamic is playing out across seven themes spanning venture, growth equity, buyout, private credit, infrastructure, and secondaries, the Outlook provides a timely perspective on the macro forces influencing private markets.

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The Second Order - HarbourVest podcast

[Podcast] HarbourVest's Podcast The Second Order: Private Markets Decoded

In the inaugural episode, Market Strategists Scott Voss and Mindy Lahrman explain why that idea inspired a new term for HarbourVest’s 2026 Mid-Year Private Markets Outlook: idiosyncronicity.

They explore how the same market environment is producing vastly different outcomes across companies, managers, and portfolios, and how that dynamic is playing out across four themes: AI, exits and performance, evergreen funds, and the current market share shift.
 

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24 September 2026
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Important information

This report is authored by HarbourVest Partners. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ironbark Asset Management (Fund Services) Limited ABN 63 116 232 154 AFSL 298626, trading as Ironbark Investment Solutions (Ironbark). Ironbark does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this article. You should seek independent advice having regard to your objectives, financial situation, and needs before making any investment decision. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Ironbark, its affiliates, employees or representatives.