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A column chart that shows annual private equity fundraising from 2019 to 2025. Fundraising peaked at $402.3 billion in 2022 with 1,047 funds. It declined to $141.2 billion and 134 funds in 2025. Fund counts generally rose until 2022, then dropped sharply by 2025.

Annual PE fundraising

Data: Dealogic; Note: Year-to-date data through June 3 ; Chart: Axios Visuals

Middle-market private equity funds are prepping for a shopping spree amid the broader fundraising malaise.

The big picture: Fundraising is lagging, but the middle market offers a refuge. 

Driving the news: Churchill Asset Management raised $1.5 billion in its second co-investment fund, following Thoma Bravo's $8.1 billion middle-market fund close last week. 

By the numbers: Near the halfway point of the year, PE fundraising accounts for just 43% of last year's haul, according to PitchBook.

What they're saying: Higher cost of capital, tariffs, geopolitical issues are all a lot of noise that the middle market is better suited to tune out, Jason Strife, Churchill's head of junior capital and private equity solutions tells Axios Pro.

"What we think about the U.S. middle market is that a lot of those businesses are relatively insulated from a lot of that distraction," Strife says, noting a "gut of supply of private equity-owned companies."

Zoom in: Churchill's fund is 3.5 times larger than its predecessor, Strife tells Axios Pro.

The fund will make investments between $30 million and $50 million and target companies with an EBITDA between $15 million and $75 million. It will focus on B2B companies, professional services and health care.

About 30% of the fund has been deployed across 25 investments, Strife says.

Churchill, which lends and makes investments alongside PE firms, is the investment arm of Nuveen. Limited partners include traditional investors, but the firm declined to identify any by name.  

Catch up quick: Last week, Thoma Bravo announced three funds, totaling $34.4 billion, including an $8.1 billion fund aimed at the middle market, about 30.1% larger than its predecessor. 

"The midmarket's getting a little bigger, or the definition of a midmarket company keeps rising," Orlando Bravo, the fund's co-founder and managing partner, told Axios' Dan Primack last week.

"Insulated" midmarket stirs PE interest

PE firms are prepping a shopping middle market spree.

A bar graph shows annual private equity fundraising activity.

Middle-market private equity funds are prepping for a shopping spree amid the broader fundraising malaise.The big picture: Fundraising is lagging, but the middle market offers a refuge.

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"Insulated" midmarket stirs PE interest

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