2025 is shaping up to be a historic year for secondary transactions in private markets. According to recent reports by Setter Capital and Evercore, global secondary deal volume exceeded $102 billion in H1 2025 — a 50% increase from the same period in 2024. Analysts now project the full-year total to surpass $176 billion, driven by a confluence of market conditions, investor preferences, and macroeconomic shifts.
So what’s causing this dramatic rise?
With traditional IPO and M&A markets still operating below pre-2022 levels, liquidity has become a core concern. LPs, GPs, and founders are increasingly turning to secondaries as a pragmatic route to cash out or rebalance portfolios. Institutional investors who locked up capital in long-duration funds are seeking partial exits without waiting for full fund maturities.
Large players like endowments, pensions, and sovereign wealth funds are optimizing their portfolios. Many are offloading non-core or underperforming positions to meet rebalancing targets or take advantage of pricing dislocations. In 2025, even high-performing funds are seeing early secondaries as a risk management tool.
One of the biggest trends in secondaries is the rise of GP-led transactions — where general partners create new vehicles to offer liquidity to early investors while continuing to manage the underlying asset. These continuation funds now make up nearly 50% of all secondary deal volume, offering LPs optionality and GPs continuity.
For LPs, secondaries offer a compelling entry point. They gain access to more mature companies — often post-Series B or later — with visible performance metrics, known team execution, and cleaner cap tables. Unlike early-stage VC bets, secondaries reduce blind-pool risk and time-to-exit, making them attractive for investors seeking duration compression and risk-adjusted returns.
The growing infrastructure around deal sourcing, pricing transparency, and structuring has made secondary markets more accessible. Platforms, data providers, and specialist funds are making it easier for investors to evaluate and execute on these opportunities — especially through SPV structures like the ones we use at Open Doors Partners.
At Open Doors Partners, secondaries are an increasingly core component of our investment mix. In 2025 alone, we’ve evaluated 20+ opportunities across late-stage tech, secondary fund interests, and direct company shares. Our SPV-first approach — with clean legal wrappers and personalized LP communication — gives investors direct access to curated deals, without the baggage of legacy fund structures.
If you’re an accredited investor looking for de-risked exposure to high-quality private assets, secondaries may offer a powerful complement to your portfolio. They’re no longer a niche play — they’re becoming the heart of private market liquidity.
Open Doors Partners LLC does not publicly offer or solicit investment opportunities. All investments are made through private placements under Rule 506(b) of Regulation D. Accredited investors only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.