Direct investments are changing the private equity market.
According to Business Insider, ultra-wealthy families now invest around a third of their wealth directly in private markets. Increasingly without funds: more directly, more flexibly, more strategically.
What was the exception a few years ago is a clear trend today,
including in the DACH region.
Family offices are no longer just silent providers of capital; they’re actively shaping the market.
And they’re bringing new formats into play:
• Direct co-investments alongside entrepreneurs
• Hybrid holding structures with longer horizons
• Strategic capital rather than the quick win
That changes the game.
But it doesn’t push anyone out. It widens the playing field.
For fund managers, it means:
• More partnership on equal terms
• Higher expectations on transparency and governance
• Openness to new co-investment structures
For entrepreneurs, there are new opportunities, but also higher demands.
Family offices are looking for impact, innovation and lasting value.
To win them over, you need a clear story, solid numbers and a long-term vision.
And co-investors?
They gain direct access and new structures, if they’re willing to question familiar models.
For us at TALENTspy, this means:
• We work every day with the top 10 % of future-ready transformation leaders: low ego, tech-savvy, strong on execution.
• Our playing field is transformation, innovation and value creation, exactly where private equity sees opportunity.
• We connect private equity, mid-sized companies and family offices with the best people for lasting value creation.
My impression is that family offices are making the private equity market more agile, more individual and more human.
Capital shapes the market; leadership decides what becomes of it.
What opportunities or challenges do you see in this development?
Source: Business Insider, “Inside the 2025 Family Office Boom”, October 2025
