Private Markets Square #9 — The Market Isn't Slowing Down. It's Sorting.
AirFund Newsletter · Edition #9 · Thursday 17 September 2026 · 5 min read
The Pulse of the Square
September. The flip-flops go back in the cupboard, the office badge turns up at the bottom of a beach bag, and client allocations get opened again in the hope that summer was kind.
First-half verdict: private equity did not deliver the rebound it promised itself in January. Managers were waiting for the year of recovery. Six months on, they are still waiting. But reading that as a slowdown would be a mistake. The market is not braking, it is sorting.
And for those who prefer facts to narratives, here are the three concrete signals.
Fundraising is concentrating. Capital raised in the first half of 2026 rose 9% year on year while the number of funds closed fell. There is still money, it is simply going to fewer managers.
DPI has dethroned IRR. Investors now look at what has actually been returned rather than what is promised. A quiet cultural revolution that changes everything in your client conversations.
Liquidity comes through the back door. Exits remain difficult. Continuation vehicles and the secondary market have become the main release valve. It is not a stopgap, it is a market organising itself.
And here is the most interesting part. Facing uncertainty, managers are moving back towards tangible assets. The ones whose barriers to entry withstand the disruption under way, including AI. Capital is flowing back to what the economy cannot do without. It is no coincidence that healthcare remains the most resilient sector for private equity deployment.
That is precisely the reasoning behind our selection. Here is where it led us. ↓
Sources: PwC, Alter Domus, With Intelligence (mid-2026).
Our conviction
Why these two funds and not two others
Our screen comes down to one question. Does the underlying need exist independently of the cycle? If the answer depends on macro, we pass. Two themes answer yes without hesitating.
Infrastructure: Otentiq Private Infrastructure III (co-investment alongside Access Capital Partners)
Infrastructure is that rare thing: essential and never finished. Essential, because nobody postpones electricity or water or an internet connection until next year. Never finished, because networks designed for the twentieth century now have to absorb electric cars and heat pumps and data centres that consume like mid-sized towns. Fibre replaces copper. Energy storage becomes a business of its own. Mobility reinvents itself every ten years.
That is what convinced us: the need guarantees usage and constant evolution creates the value. An asset you cannot abandon and must keep modernising generates capital demand that never dries up.
We like the format too. Otentiq co-invests alongside Access Capital Partners, one of Europe's major private markets managers. You lean on the deals of an established house rather than betting on a newcomer.
Healthcare: MCF Access Feeder S.L.P. (managed by ARCHIMED, structured via Mata Capital)
Healthcare knows no plateau. Medicine is in constant progress. Every advance becomes the standard of care of the following decade. What was a breakthrough in 2015 is a reimbursed standard in 2026. The sector moves on two legs, demographics increase the volume of care, innovation increases its value. Neither of them slows down.
Our choice here is that of an unapologetic specialist. Not a generalist that does healthcare on occasion, but ARCHIMED, whose only business is healthcare and life sciences. In a sector this technical and this regulated, sector expertise is a condition of entry.
One last point and it counts: this is an evergreen fund and therefore no race to a closing, no vintage to catch. You subscribe when the timing suits the client and redemption windows are provided for under the terms of the prospectus. For a wealth allocation, that flexibility weighs as much as the theme itself.
The expert's view. The advisers who allocate well on these themes are not looking for the best performing fund of the year. They are looking for legibility. A need you can explain to a client in one sentence becomes an allocation they keep for ten years.
On the AirFund side. Our role stops where yours begins. We select, we document, we digitalise the subscription. On your side, you keep the advice and the relationship. Detailed materials on both funds are available on request from our team. Performance data included.
Events
Patrimonia Lyon, 30 September and 1 October 2026
Stand K21, Hall 2. Two days on site with a visual world that smells of the mountains and a team ready to talk private markets allocation for as long as the coffee holds out.
On the programme: our convictions on infrastructure and healthcare. A platform demo. And a few goodies you will thank us for this winter.
Our news
AirFund 2.0
New version, same promise. Digital subscription moves back into the Marketplace itself. One single portal to find a fund and read its documentation and subscribe. No more back and forth between three tools.
Two spaces from now on. One for managers, one for distributors, no favourites. With much improved access to registers on the distribution side. Add automated reporting and dashboards and you have the full picture.
On security, each player gets its own environment and its own isolated data. Large groups can supply their own encryption keys. Not the most glamorous subject for a newsletter, but the one your clients will ask about first.
One platform and all your strategies, with subscriptions that are simpler still.
Disclaimer
Information reserved for wealth management professionals. Marketing communication. AirFund is a Financial Investment Advisor (CIF), registered with ORIAS under number 24004281, member of ANACOFI. Fund details are accessible only to wealth management advisors registered with ORIAS and holding CIF accreditation. Please refer to the AIF prospectus and the key information document before making any investment decision. Investments in private assets carry a risk of capital loss and limited liquidity. Subscription and redemption terms, including for evergreen funds, are defined by the fund's legal documentation. Information on future performance is based on reasonable assumptions; these forecasts are not guaranteed and are not a reliable indicator of future results.