Private equity takes on a lot of forms but is primarily focused on buying a controlling interest in companies (buyout) or investing in start-ups (venture capital)

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Why it Matters: Over $4 trillion has been invested in private equity over the past ten years.  
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The big picture: Private equity has been the dominate player in private markets for a very long time. While there are many players in the market today, it is dominated by household names like KKR, Blackstone and others.

The low down: Private equity can be broken down in several ways but it is generally accepted within these three categories

Venture Capital invest in startups and early-stage companies across various rounds of funding needs (seed, series A) in hopes of outsized returns.

Buyout is the quintessential private equity strategy that applies leverage to gain control of mature companies

Growth Equity sits in the middle of VC and buyout strategies.  Growth equity allows companies the capital they need to stay private.  
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By the numbers: Private equity generally yields an IRR of around 10%-20%+.  
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The bottom line: private equity asset managers can apply a variation of these three strategies but generally fall within one of these categories.  Similar to all asset managers, the experience and size of assets managed vary widely

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