Radnor, PA – July 29, 2026 – TIFF Investment Management (TIFF) has held the final close for PE Direct Fund V at $300 million, at the fund’s hard cap in an oversubscribed fundraise.
This is TIFF’s fifth fund investing alongside independent sponsors in direct transactions, a strategy TIFF has pursued since 2014, when it was among one of the first institutional investors to enter the space. At the time, capital in this segment was backed almost exclusively by family offices, with limited institutional capital or infrastructure in place. Over more than a decade, we believe TIFF has built the industry’s most established platform for partnering with independent sponsors on direct investments in the lower end of the lower middle market, targeting companies with EBITDA under $10 million, where the right sponsor can drive outsized impact through hands-on operating involvement and a tightly aligned deal structure.
TIFF is proud to support independent sponsors at pivotal moments in their careers, including spinning out from private equity firms, closing a first deal on their own, or building the case for their first institutional fund. TIFF attributes Fund V’s growth to shifts in the independent sponsor landscape and to rising institutional interest in the strategy.
“We’ve stayed close to this community as it has grown from a niche corner of the market into a durable, increasingly professionalized asset class, and we’ve grown alongside it,” said Carolyn Patton, CFA, Managing Director, Private Markets at TIFF. “The step-up from $165 million in our prior vintage to $300 million in Fund V reflects that growth, both in the depth of the independent sponsor landscape and in the number of institutions that now see this as a critical piece of their private markets exposure.”
“Our team is purpose-built to underwrite both sides of every opportunity, the independent sponsor and the underlying deal, rather than treating one as secondary to the other,” said Brendon Parry, CFA, Head of Private Markets at TIFF. “Most investors are set up to do one or the other well – we’ve built our process, our diligence, and our team to do both, which is part of why sponsors come back to us deal after deal, and why LPs have chosen us as their partner of choice in this area of the market.”
“The lower middle market remains an attractive and under-capitalized space,” Parry added. “Fewer institutional buyers compete for deals at this size, valuations are more reasonable, and there’s real room for a hands-on sponsor to build value rather than simply financially engineer it. We see that opportunity persisting, and we’ve never been more excited about the lineup of independent sponsors in our pipeline heading into this next fund.”
About TIFF Investment Management
TIFF Investment Management is an independent, employee-owned investment firm specializing in Outsourced Chief Investment Officer services and alternative investment strategies, including private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds. Founded in 1991, with more than $11 billion in assets under management1, TIFF draws on decades of experience serving nonprofits, family offices, RIAs, and other sophisticated investors. As a certified B Corporation2, TIFF embeds accountability, transparency, and sustainability into its operations and investment practices. TIFF combines nonprofit expertise with institutional-quality access, partnering with long-term investors to deliver sustainable growth and enduring results that can advance their long-term objectives. Learn more at http://www.tiff.org.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results and the opinions presented cannot be viewed as an indicator of future performance. There is no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or mix of strategies will meet your investment objectives.
The materials are being provided for informational purposes only and constitute neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy securities. These materials also do not constitute investment, legal or tax advice. Opinions expressed herein are those of TIFF and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities.
These materials may contain forward-looking statements relating to future events. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue,” the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. Although TIFF believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, future results cannot be guaranteed.
Footnotes
TIFF assets under management are over $11 billion as of April 1, 2026, and includes discretionary and non-discretionary client assets for which TIFF affiliates provide investment management or advisory services. The alternatives portion of TIFF’s AUM is calculated based upon fund net asset value plus unfunded commitments. Calculation of TIFF AUM differs from the calculation of regulatory assets under management in TIFF’s Form ADV filings with the SEC and may differ from the AUM calculation methodologies used by other investment managers.
B Lab is the independent third party that certifies companies as B Corporations when they meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B Lab certified TIFF Advisory Services, LLC as a B Corporation on September 12, 2025. To remain certified, B Corporations must recertify every three years.
