You're Paying to Chase AI

Here's What That Actually Costs.

LP co-investment in US venture is booming, driven by a liquidity crunch and AI's explosive valuations. But the deals you want most are the hardest to access, and the fees you're trying to avoid may be finding you anyway.

Something has shifted in how institutional LPs are thinking about their venture exposure. It’s not just that more of them want to co-invest — it’s why they want to, and what they’re willing to pay (and risk) to do it. A new analyst note from PitchBook’s Institutional Research Group puts hard numbers to what many of us have been sensing in conversations with GPs and peer allocators. The picture is more nuanced and more cautionary than the deal-flow excitement might suggest.

Here’s what the data says, and what it means for how you should be thinking about your direct program.