Everything happens faster in the modern world.
Need information? You can source it in seconds. Buying something online? In 2026 we measure delivery times in hours, not days, let alone weeks.
Remember when it used to take nearly a week to get your photos developed?
For private equity fund managers, there is at least one area of life that is moving in the opposite direction: fundraising.
Today, raising capital for a new closed-ended fund is a slog.
McKinsey data shows that private equity funds that closed in 2024 spent an average of 21.9 months raising capital, compared to 19.6 months in 2023 and 14.1 months in 2018 (McKinsey Global Private Markets Report, 2025).
The trend is clear.
Longer fundraises, lower fees
All this extra time on the road is time that funds are not collecting management fees. That adds up to a lot of lost money.
According to Preqin, buyout funds with a 2024 vintage had an average management fee of 1.74%. That accounts for the concessions managers have offered to certain high-value investors (Preqin Private Capital Fund Terms Advisor, 2024).
Using McKinsey’s numbers, that means a typical $1 billion private equity fund is missing out on more than $11 million in management fees compared to what it would have collected in 2018. This, of course, assumes only a single close, so the number is likely a little smaller.
Either way, it will be several million dollars; a huge cost to incur due to spending an additional eight months on the road.
Management fees have fallen, on average, as competition for investor dollars increases.
This means the average fund on the road in 2018 had a double advantage: they started collecting management fees earlier and likely received a higher management fee.
Surviving without an income isn’t easy
This lost fee income is money that managers rely on to cover the fund’s operating expenses. Management fees are a fund’s only guaranteed source of income. They cover salaries, rents, and other overheads.
Any delays to that money coming in are especially problematic for new managers who don’t have management fees from other funds to keep them going. Longer fundraises mean more travel, more flights, and more legal fees. These costs add up quickly when there is no money coming in to pay for them.
There is no reliable data showing how many funds fail during the fundraising process, but we do know that the number of funds closing each year is falling. In 2024, 3,000 private asset funds closed, a 28% decline compared to before the pandemic (Bain Global Private Equity Report 2025).
Longer fundraising periods also have implications for funds that have already closed and deployed their capital.
When managers spend longer on the road raising money for a new fund, that is time they are not spending time with their portfolio companies or finding other ways to generate returns for investors.
Is this trend likely to continue?
We believe fundraising periods will continue to lengthen in the immediate future.
Why do we think that?
One reason is the self-perpetuating nature of the problem. Longer fundraising periods mean more funds in the market at any given time. That increases competition for every investor dollar, further extending the time it takes to hit the target.
The pressures that caused the trend in the first place are still with us. The big managers continue to gain market share. The rest of the market will have to keep working harder to be noticed.
Apex Invest can help
General partners should therefore apply every ethical technique to secure an advantage with investors. That means smarter messaging and smarter networking.
This is where we come in. We have tools to help managers at every stage, from finding the right investors to making the best first impression.
The initial step is getting the messaging right.
Limited partners will read up on managers before they meet them. In the sea of information out there, managers need to make sure their online presence is professional, their messaging is tailored to their ideal investors, and their key selling points are truly distinct and compelling.
Managers don’t have to figure these things out on their own. Our Strategic Marketing Partners team helps managers articulate what makes them special and why investors should care. We help managers stand out from the crowd and craft authentic materials that tell their stories in compelling and memorable ways.
This puts them in a strong position to secure allocations quicker than their rivals.
Once the messaging is in place, it’s time to meet the investors.
Apex Invest.io brings investors to their ideal managers, allowing them to curate their searches based on specific characteristics like strategy, geography, or size. Because investors don’t want to connect with just any managers. They want to connect with the right managers.
Apex Invest Events adopts the same approach. No more relying on chance encounters during coffee breaks. We connect our delegates with people looking to meet people just like them, based on information gathered ahead of time.
The result? More time talking to the right people. Fewer dead ends. Less time wasted. More new partnerships with people who share your goals.
The final outcome is an accelerated fundraising cycle that delivers better results in less time.
To learn more, contact the Apex Strategic Marketing Partners team.
