Mixed reactions to EIF data portal initiative
The European Investment Fund (EIF) aims to increase transparency in Europe’s private capital markets by launching a free online data portal – a move that has sparked mixed reactions among investors. In collaboration with US asset manager Blackrock, the EIF has created a platform called „TrackVC.eu“, which, according to the EIF, offers investors „unprecedented public access to a selection of historical fund performance data in Europe's venture capital and private equity sectors.“ The initiative is intended to boost VC and PE investment on the continent.
However, not everyone in the industry agrees with this reasoning. „More transparency in private markets would certainly be welcome, and I think everyone should advocate for it“, says Yaron Valler, founder and partner at London-based VC firm Target Global, which has invested in German companies such as digital freight forwarder Sennder and electronics rental service Grover. „But this initiative shows that governments tend to create solutions for problems that don’t exist. There are already several commercial databases, such as Dealroom and PitchBook, which hold vast amounts of data on private markets.“
The providers of such platforms operate in a growing market. Non-public asset classes – such as private equity, venture capital, and private credit (i.e., lending by non-banks to non-listed companies) – are becoming increasingly popular, especially in times of economic uncertainty. This, in turn, increases the demand for data. According to Blackrock, the demand for private markets data is currently estimated at 8 billion dollars, and is projected to grow by 12% annually, reaching 18 billion dollars by 2030.
Blackrock was the „best choice“
PitchBook and Dealroom are not the only players in this space. Another widely used platform for private market data is London-based Preqin. Founded in 2003, Preqin claims to have 200,000 users across 180 countries, including asset managers, insurers, pension funds, and banks. Blackrock recently acquired Preqin for over 3 billion dollars and merged it with French software firm eFront, which the asset manager had already purchased for around 1 billion dollars in 2019.
According to the EIF, it has had „a long-standing business relationship“ with eFront. The firm „has a database even more extensive than that of the EIF, which is why Blackrock’s venture capital and private equity database was considered the best choice for launching TrackVC.eu“, a spokesperson for the European Investment Bank explained.
The new portal’s fund selection reportedly „extends beyond the EIF portfolio.“ Investors can compare „key performance metrics such as IRR (internal rate of return), DPI (distributed to paid-in capital), and TVPI (total value to paid-in capital) based on data from various vintage years and strategies.“ The EIF argues that the lack of sufficient data in Europe „discourages institutional investors and private investors from committing capital.“
Valler from Target Global, however, does not entirely agree. „The absence of data portals is not Europe’s problem“, he notes. After all, the US channels more capital into private markets than Europe does, "yet US private markets are also very opaque.“ In 2024, European startups received 57 billion euros in venture capital, compared to 209 billion dollars in the US, according to PitchBook.
Beyond commercial providers, private markets participants have also created their own data pools in the past. One example is the European Data Cooperative, an initiative by the European private capital association Invest Europe. The platform collects data across Europe on private market activities, economic impact, and ESG-related topics. As of today, it covers 4,000 firms, 10,900 funds, and 86,700 portfolio companies.
Data often unreliable
From Valler’s perspective, the real issue is not the quantity of available data but its often poor quality, a natural consequence of the lack of mandatory disclosure requirements. „Private companies sometimes deliberately disseminate inaccurate data because they want to remain opaque“, he states. „This can actually be an advantage.“
But Hendrik Brandis, co-founder of VC investor Earlybird, sees an opportunity for TrackVC.eu in this regard. None of the existing commercial providers „offer a similarly complete, reliable, and trustworthy database, particularly for European VC funds.“ The portal has the potential to fill this gap.
