Secondaries deliver the highest median returns in private markets while losing capital a fraction as often as primary funds. In 2025, the rest of the industry made it official: a record $240 billion changed hands, and the largest managers in the world launched dedicated secondaries strategies.
Over two decades of fund data, secondaries have done something rare: delivered the highest median net IRR of any private-capital strategy while almost never losing money. The return comes from buying proven, mid-life portfolios at a discount to NAV; the safety comes from diversification across many underlying companies already past their riskiest years.
For years, secondaries were treated as a niche corner of private markets, a place to offload unwanted positions. That framing is gone. In 2025, secondary transaction volume hit an all-time record of $240 billion, up 48% in a single year, with a record $327 billion of dedicated capital waiting to be deployed.
Volume is one thing. The more telling signal is who is building secondaries capability. In the space of two years, the strategy has been adopted by the largest software investors, the biggest wealth platforms, and individual investors for the first time.
Everything above describes a strategy that is validated, institutionalised, and competitive in every developed market. In MENA, where VC funding has tripled since 2020, it barely exists. There is no dedicated regional secondaries buyer, which is precisely the gap Key Capital was built to close.
The model the world's best firms have validated, buying proven assets at a discount to NAV and providing liquidity in an illiquid market, is the model Key Capital is bringing to MENA. The difference is competition: globally, secondaries are crowded; in MENA, the field is open.
For why this matters in the region specifically, see Why MENA, why now? on the regional opportunity, and Why secondaries outperform on the mechanics of entering after the J-curve.