As 2026 gets underway, the fundamental circumstances that influence private market exits are largely the same: Private companies are bigger than ever by valuation, but they also have more liquidity levers than ever to pull without needing to tap the public markets. But that privilege is reserved for the very best of breed. Further down the private company food chain, things are more complicated. Even for some promising AI startups, an acquihire to a giant is proving far more appealing than going at it alone. Which means acquisitions and other creative variations of dealmaking are also very much in play. “With a choppy IPO window, [in life sciences] later-stage companies are staying private longer and often running dual-track M&A/go-public processes. Expect sustained high levels of activity in biotech and oncology sectors, both in earlier and later stage assets,” said Mike Patrone, a Technology, Life Sciences, and Private Equity partner at Goodwin.
Read the Fortune article for more.