For Q2, the size of the VC secondary market reached $61.1 billion, according to PitchBook

The rise of secondaries has been one of the private markets’ most resilient and undeniable narratives in recent years.

Consider: In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, secondaries were looked down upon, fretted about as signs of distress or sales at a discount. Today, not so. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say secondaries are an enduring (and growing) corner of the private markets, and an increasingly important vehicle through which VC firms drum up returns in a limited exit environment.

In Q2 2025, the VC direct secondary market in the U.S. was $61.1 billion, according to new data from PitchBook. That’s up slightly from $60 billion in Q1, and a marked jump from the $50 billion in Q4 20024, which was the first time PitchBook published a VC secondaries report. But it’s important to reme