Private Equity

Private Equity Research Consortium (PERC) is an assemblage of academic researchers and industry professionals dedicated to advancing research on private equity and credit. Our core mission is to develop a better understanding of how private capital investments affect both financial results and broader economic outcomes.

PERC, organized through IPC, was established in 2012 by scholars from the business schools at the University of Chicago, Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Oxford, and the University of Virginia as well as other institutions who recognized challenges facing empirical research on private equity. PERC supports academic studies by researchers all over the world by facilitating access to data for scholars. For example, PERC has an exclusive arrangement with Burgiss to provide access to data for academic research. The Burgiss dataset includes 12,700 funds, 10 trillion in assets. It is sourced directly from limited partners and contains full performance histories of cash flows at the fund level. The Burgiss dataset represents the largest and most in-depth dataset of its kind on venture, buyout, and real estate funds available for academic research.

PERC periodically accepts applications from academic researchers for access to Burgiss private equity fund data.

Latest Private Equity Research

Are Some Angels Better Than Others?

July 10, 2024

This paper explores the tremendous variation in investment performance of angel investors. The returns are highly skewed: Despite the massive losses incurred in most investments, the mean return is twice the invested capital.

The Performance of Small Business Investment Companies

June 19, 2024

We utilize results of a survey of Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), along with data from MSCI-Burgiss, to perform a novel analysis of SBIC performance. Overall, we find via the survey that SBIC funds outperform comparable non-SBIC peers by an average of around 4%...

Venture Debt as Bridge Financing

May 13, 2024

We show that venture debt often acts as bridge financing to an equity round or acquisition. We argue that venture lenders have distinct skill sets from traditional venture capitalists (VCs) that make them the natural investors while the company awaits the resolution of important strategic uncertainty. More

Advisory Board

Greg Brown

Research Director, IPC; Professor of Finance, Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Scholar, University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School

Keith Crouch

Private Capital Solutions, MSCI

Robert S. Harris

PERC Director, C. Stewart Sheppard Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia, Darden School

Yael Hochberg

Ralph S. O'Connor Professor in Entrepreneurship (Finance); Head, Rice University Entrepreneurship Initiative

Tim Jenkinson

Professor of Finance, Oxford University, Said Business School

Steven Kaplan

Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

David Robinson

Professor of Finance and J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Professor of International Management, Duke University, Fuqua School of Business

Reiner Braun

Chair, Entrepreneurial Finance 2, Technische Universität München

Michael Ewens

David L. and Elsie M. Dodd Professor of Finance, Columbia Business School

Will Gornall

Assistant Professor of Finance, University of British Columbiam, Sauder School of Business

Oleg Gredil

Associate Professor of Finance, Tulane University, A. B. Freeman School of Business

Sabrina Howell

Associate Professor of Finance, New York University Stern School of Business

Victoria Ivashina

Lovett-Learned Chaired Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School

Arthur Korteweg

Dean's Associate Professor in Business Administration, Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics, University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business

Josh Lerner

Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School

Vrinda Mittal

Assistant Professor of Finance, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

Stefan Morkoetter

Professor of Finance, University of St.Gallen

Adair Morse

Professor of Finance, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business

Ludovic Phalippou

Professor of Financial Economics, University of Oxford, Saïd Business School

Antoinette Schoar

Koerner Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management

Berk Sensoy

Hans Stoll Professor of Finance, Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management

Morten Sorensen

Associate Professor of Finance, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

Ilya Strebulaev

The David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity; Professor of Finance; Director, Stanford Venture Capital Initiative, Graduate School of Stanford Business

Per Stromberg

SSE Centennial Professor of Finance and Private Equity, Stockholm School of Economics; Adjunct Professor of Finance, Booth Business School, University of Chicago

Michael Weisbach

Ralph W. Kurtz Chair in Finance, Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business

Ayako Yasuda

Professor of Finance, UC Davis