Five essential questions predictive data can answer for business development teams in private markets

The challenge for service providers is not only identifying prospects, but knowing when to engage, who to speak with, and where the next opportunities are likely to emerge.

Access to timely, accurate, and contextual data reduces uncertainty in these workflows. Here, we assess five common questions for business development (BD) teams and how predictive data can help, including prioritizing accounts, timing their outreach, and strengthening conversations with prospective clients.

1. Who’s launching a fund?

Teams often struggle to assess when fund managers are beginning to prepare their next vehicles. Without insight into timing, BD professionals may reach out too early, before managers are considering new partnerships, or too late, after they have already selected partners.

Data can provide predictive indicators around upcoming fund launches – early signals of when a GP might be preparing operationally for their next vehicle. The Preqin Fund Forecast Tool is designed to surface these predictions, including funds expected to launch over the coming quarters.

The forecasts use deployment speed – or how quickly a fund is deploying its capital – and dry powder values to estimate launch dates. Knowing which fund managers are preparing new launches allows BD teams to prioritize outreach strategically, connecting with prospects at the right time. This advantage helps teams build relationships with managers ahead of competitors, have more personalized conversations, and focus resources on active prospects. For instance, the Fund Forecast Tool estimates that more than half of new fund launches to Q1 2027 (based on dry powder predictions) will be by US-based fund managers (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: New opportunities for service providers are concentrated in the US
Number of estimated fund launches in the 12 months from Q2 2026 to Q1 2027 based on dry powder predictions, by fund manager country

_{Our Fund Forecast tool estimates when a fund manager will launch a follow-on vehicle for a fund series using a mix of dry powder & deployment speed sourced through Preqin's proprietary data. This forecast reflects funds with sufficiently complete data under our quality thresholds and does not represent all funds expected to come to market.
Countries with fewer than 8 estimated fund launches, the combined total of which amount to 36, are excluded from this map.
Source: Preqin Pro, Fund Forecast Tool. Data as of March 2026}

2. Which firms are new and need partners?

Private markets are opaque by design. Unlike established firms that often have entrenched service provider relationships, new firms have yet to form them. BD teams often struggle to identify these emerging firms that are actively choosing service providers. The Preqin Newly Added Managers Tool helps BD teams to spot first‑time fund managers, giving them data-driven context when entering conversations with prospects.

3. Which firms or decision-makers should be approached?

BD teams frequently cite difficulties in understanding a firm’s investment focus or assessing whether a prospect is aligned with their target customer profile. Much of this information is fractured across disparate sources.

Having structured profiles for GP and LP firms – including fund strategies, geographic exposure, and historical fund activity – gives BD teams the context needed to prequalify prospects. Almost 800,000 active individual profiles are available in the Preqin database, having more than doubled in two years (Fig. 2). The profiles include information on fund strategies, fundraising, and deal activity, which can empower BD teams to prioritize strategically.

Identifying the right decision-makers within firms is the next step. These profiles on Preqin Pro also consolidate firms’ existing service provider relationships, enabling BD professionals to see who manages fund administration, legal work, or other functions. This addresses a widely recognized challenge: competitor blindness.

Additionally, Preqin Pro offers data on historical deals and funds that are tagged to each decision-maker’s profile, including those of back-office and middle-office staff, not just investment teams. This provides insight into the experience and the influence of each decision-maker.

Fig. 2: Preqin's contacts coverage has almost doubled in two years
Historical contacts data coverage by type, Dec 2022 – Dec 2025

_{Source: Preqin Pro. Data as of March 2026}

4. Who’s the new CTO at this firm?

Departures and new hires directly influence buying authority and relationship continuity. But manually tracking staff changes across hundreds of firms is unmanageable, and outdated CRM information undermines outreach accuracy.

BD teams can stay ahead of industry moves with Preqin Contact Updates, which highlight key movements at firms. These include changes in decision-makers and key persons such as CTOs and CIOs across investment teams, as well as back-, middle-, and front-office staff, all of which signal potential shifts in service provider needs. Teams can better time their outreach efforts, ensuring their engagement is both relevant and well-informed.

5. How should we capture opportunities in time?

Teams often spend considerable time manually monitoring markets for new fundraises, strategy shifts, or deal activity. Without structured alerts, BD professionals risk missing critical signals that could justify outreach. Many teams also lack a reliable way to detect when a firm raises a new fund, completes a deal, or expands its investment scope – events that typically justify outreach.

With real-time market alerts, BD teams can seize new opportunities with data points consolidated in a dashboard. Using target lists, they can intentionally curate a list of firms they are targeting and monitor key fund activity and developments that could trigger the need for additional services. This enables professionals to engage prospects when interest and operational pressure are highest.

Data-driven tools tailored for business development

Ready to see how predictive data can transform your business development strategy? Sign up for a demo of Preqin Pro and discover how you can identify new opportunities, prioritize your outreach, and stay ahead of the competition with real-time insights.

Request your Preqin Pro demo here.

_{The opinions and facts included within the above do not constitute investment advice. Professional advice should be sought before making any investment or other decisions. Preqin accepts no liability for any decisions taken in relation to the above.}