Think long, think better
N°18 - February 2026
Evergreen is no longer a niche, it’s becoming the blueprint. With 25% of secondary buyers now operating evergreen vehicles, patient capital is becoming a norm in a world of multi-crises. And the old model? It’s cracking. French VC finds itself squeezed out of its own market, with only 30% of top Series A rounds led by domestic funds and exits collapsing to a five-year low. Even in AI, where investment keeps rising, the cracks show. Nearly a quarter of European AI startups are eyeing the US, because the European funding machine simply moves too slowly.
Short-termism has shaped the world we live in today. The evidence is all around us. It’s time to think about longer term horizons and overlooked markets, outside of the US.
And if you are visiting Paris anytime soon, do yourself a favour: visit Martin Parr’s “Global Warning” at the Jeu de Paume. Fifty years of capturing our collective absurdities with humour and honesty. A reminder that sometimes, the best way to see the future is to look carefully at the present.
I hope this curation will drive your own reflections and actions. Please feel free to share it with those who might be interested.
Meyha Camara
Insights
Rod James 🇬🇧 reveals the secondary market’s paradox: despite record $225-240B in deal volumes in 2025, funds cannot raise capital fast enough to keep up with demand, as weak M&A and IPO activity pushes more LPs to sell assets for liquidity. | PitchBook - Private Equity
Anne Bodescot 🇫🇷 explores how Cathay Capital founder MingPo Cai is using a rare French legal structure, the “fonds de pérennité”, enabling companies to grow without the pressure of exit timelines. | Le Figaro - Fund Structure
Decode Media 🇫🇷 analyses why the French VC model faces a structural crisis: seed rounds down 44% since 2021, only 30% of top Series A led by French funds, and exits collapsing 65% to a five-year low, calling for a radical shift. | Decode Media - VC
Diana Li & Denise Wee 🇭🇰 report Hong Kong’s single-family offices jumped 25% since 2023, with 19% planning to reduce US exposure whilst 60% intend to increase Hong Kong allocations, as the city reinforces its position as Asia’s wealth hub and super-connector to mainland China. | Bloomberg - Family Offices
Matthieu Stefani 🇫🇷 travels to China to explore how the country became an industrial powerhouse in his latest documentary, revealing a system built on speed, scale and political will that should force Europe to question whether it can still compete on manufacturing, EVs, batteries, robotics and applied AI. | YouTube - China
Maxence Fabrion 🇫🇷 reveals 23% of European AI startups are considering relocating to the US, citing regulatory complexity and investment levels seven times lower than across the Atlantic, yet 4 out of 5 AI founders still choose to build in Europe, with the continent’s fundraising up 18% in 2025. | Maddyness - AI
Molly Taft 🇺🇸 reports a bipartisan wave of US states are introducing moratoriums on data centre development, as over 200 environmental groups call AI expansion “one of the biggest environmental and social threats of our generation”. | WIRED - AI / ESSENTIALS - Energy
Lucy Knight & Sumaiya Motara 🇬🇧 investigate the growing wave of white-collar professionals, from writers to lawyers, retraining as bakers, electricians and therapists as AI reshapes their industries, raising a fundamental question: is career choice still about passion, or simply about what will still exist in 10 years? | The Guardian - AI
Sundar Mahalingam 🇮🇳 argues infrastructure alone cannot solve India’s water crisis, where 18% of the world’s population relies on just 4% of global freshwater, calling for a shift towards policy reform, community-led conservation and behavioural change to bridge a demand gap set to double available supply by 2030. | World Economic Forum - ESSENTIALS - Water
Zeynep Gülçur 🇹🇷 walks through “Global Warning”, Martin Parr’s major retrospective at Paris’s Jeu de Paume, celebrating fifty years of the late British photographer’s sharp, humorous lens on mass tourism, overconsumption and the absurdities of everyday life in consumerist society. | Artsy - Exhibition
Graph that retained my attention this week
The PE secondary market hit a record $226B in transaction volume in 2025, growing at a ~20% CAGR since 2013. GP-led deals now represent nearly half the market at $106B, up from just $5B a decade ago. According to Evercore’s latest report, 25% of all secondaries buyers now operate an evergreen fund, signalling a structural shift as open-ended vehicles become a permanent feature of the liquidity landscape.
Source: Evercore 2025 Secondary Market Survey
