The LSE Directory / Data providers
Preqin is a London-based data and analytics company built for the alternative assets industry, supplying fund, fund manager, investor, deal and performance data across private equity, venture capital, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, secondaries and hedge funds. Its core product is the Preqin Pro platform, supplemented by a Transaction Intelligence dataset, benchmarks and indices, and Enterprise Data Solutions and Data Feeds APIs that deliver the underlying data programmatically into client systems. Customers use these products for fundraising, deal sourcing, due diligence, performance benchmarking and market research. The firm differentiates itself as an independent, cross asset class data source in a market historically dominated by general partner self reported figures. It began by using UK Freedom of Information Act requests to compile private equity performance data held by public pension funds, one of the earliest systematic efforts to make illiquid private markets performance visible to limited partners. Preqin now bundles coverage of the full range of alternative asset classes into a single platform, alongside standardized fund terms benchmarking (Term Intelligence) and deal and company data (Company Intelligence), aimed at institutional investors, fund managers, banks, consultants and academic researchers who want cross asset class private markets data from one provider rather than several specialist vendors. Preqin was founded in 2003 in London as Private Equity Intelligence by Mark O'Hare, a former Boston Consulting Group manager who had previously founded the equity shareholding information service Citywatch, together with Nick Arnott. By 2025 its platform covered more than 210,000 funds and had over 220,000 users, and its Transaction Intelligence product tracked a reported 5.4 trillion dollar transaction repository. The company acquired the private markets technology and fund administration firm Colmore in August 2021, and received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2016 and 2019. On March 3, 2025, BlackRock completed its acquisition of 100 percent of Preqin Holding Limited for 2.5 billion pounds, about 3.2 billion dollars, in cash, a deal first announced in July 2024; Preqin founder Mark O'Hare joined BlackRock as a Vice Chair following completion. Under BlackRock, Preqin's private markets data is being integrated with BlackRock's Aladdin investment technology platform, with the stated aim of giving clients a combined view across public and private markets from a single provider. Preqin continues to operate and publish research under its own brand as a subsidiary of BlackRock.
