Preqin

Preqin is a London-based financial data company that provides data, benchmarks, and research on the alternative assets industry, covering private equity, venture capital, private credit, hedge funds, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, and secondaries. The company states that more than 200,000 professionals use its products to raise capital, source investments, and analyze performance^[1].

Founded in 2003 as Private Equity Intelligence by Mark O'Hare and Nick Arnott, Preqin was acquired by BlackRock, which announced a 2.55-billion-pound agreement in July 2024 and completed the purchase in March 2025 at a reported value of 3.2 billion dollars, integrating Preqin's data with BlackRock's Aladdin platform^[2].

What It Does

Preqin aggregates fund-level and firm-level data across the alternative asset classes: funds, fund managers, investors, performance, deals, exits, and fund terms. Its flagship platform, Preqin Pro, combines these datasets with analytics tools for fundraising, manager selection, business development, and portfolio monitoring^[1].

The company also operates a transaction repository described as covering 5.4 trillion dollars in transactions, term intelligence for benchmarking limited partnership agreement terms, ESG-focused sustainability data, and enterprise data delivery solutions^[1].

Data And Methodology

Preqin states it has pioneered methods of collecting private markets data for over 20 years, drawing on direct contribution from fund managers and investors alongside its research operations^[1]. Performance data underpins Preqin Benchmarks and Indices, which the company positions as a common performance measurement standard for private markets; BlackRock's Aladdin has expanded its use of these benchmarks^[1].

The firm publishes an annual series of Preqin Global Reports covering private equity, venture capital, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure, available through its Private Markets Research subscription^[1].

Products

Product lines include Preqin Pro (alternative assets data platform), Private Markets Research (industry research), Term Intelligence (LPA terms benchmarking), Benchmarks and Indices, Preqin Sustainability (ESG data), Company Intelligence (companies and deals), Enterprise Data Solutions (flexible data delivery), and Transaction Intelligence^[1].

Educational and news offerings include the Preqin Academy, the First Close newsletter, and a free-tier research library^[1].

Buyers And Use Cases

Stated client groups include fund managers, institutional investors, investment consultants, banks, placement agents and third-party marketers, fund and transaction service providers, consultancies, and academic institutions^[1]. Published client stories feature investment consultant Objective, Investec, and Natixis Investment Managers^[1].

History

Preqin launched in 2003 as Private Equity Intelligence, initially listing private equity performance data obtained with the help of the UK Freedom of Information Act^[2]. The firm won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2016 and 2019^[2]. In August 2021 it acquired Colmore, a private markets technology and administration business^[2]. BlackRock announced its acquisition on July 1, 2024, for 2.55 billion pounds, and completed the purchase in March 2025, with the transaction valued at about 3.2 billion dollars^[2].

Landscape

Preqin competes in the private markets data segment with providers such as PitchBook, S&P Capital IQ, Tracxn, and Crunchbase, differentiating on hedge fund coverage and fund terms, benchmarks, and performance datasets alongside private capital deal data^[2][1].