RESEARCH — MAY 2026
The Most Wanted Exposure
LP Allocation Intent and Unicorn AI Deal Concentration in Private Markets
By Ilja Hauerhof and Daniel Sandberg
Capital is flooding into AI, with no end in sight. More than 75% of limited partners (LPs) say they plan to deploy capital into AI over the next 12 months, a stark contrast to blockchain at 18%. LP demand for AI exposure is broad-based: endowments, wealth managers and family offices are all leaning in. But scalable exposure is narrowing. Global AI investment jumped 115% year over year in 2025 to $235 billion from $109 billion, with 82% of the incremental dollars coming from rounds of at least $1 billion. AI is the most-wanted exposure in private markets. It’s also becoming the hardest to access without paying up.
Key findings:
LPs continue to prioritize AI as a core private markets allocation, with intent holding firm across investor types despite constrained liquidity, indicating a structural preference and long-term conviction in AI’s role in value creation.
AI VC fund performance reinforces LP preferences, but both capital inflows and returns are increasingly concentrated, with most incremental capital absorbed by $1B+ transactions.
Geographic imbalances are widening, with US markets capturing the bulk of AI deal activity while European and UK investors increasingly export capital cross border. One case-study highlights how data‑driven screening enables opportunity discovery across geographies and beneath the unicorn deal tier.
Explore the data used to conduct this research:
The Headcount Analytics dataset provides an view of a company's workforce composition, trends, and metrics. Combine Headcount Analytics with S&P Capital IQ Financials, Transactions data, Key Developments, and other sources for comprehensive analysis. Monthly updates since 2010 cover more than 5 million entities worldwide.
The MI Transactions Rounds of Funding offering includes private placement data for public and private companies. This data set provides detailed information for each funding stage. The details provided on the structure of each funding round help users understand growth stages more clearly.
The Company Intelligence dataset contains a robust offering of qualitative data, including Topic Tags. Topic Tags are niche industry classifications with nuanced insights into a company’s operations. Currently 300+ Topic Tags are available relating to 2 million+ private and public companies relevant to the surface.
With Intelligence (part of S&P Global)
The With Intelligence platform is a comprehensive data and analytics solution designed to support professionals across the investment management and financial services sectors. It provides users with access to a wide range of tools and resources that facilitate informed decision-making and enhance operational efficiencies.