Top 10 Funds to Watch: September 2026

Each month we pull the ten funds worth watching: vehicles actively raising, hard caps just hit, or strategies worth understanding. September covers a wide range, from ARCH's venture science bets to Ares closing its largest institutional real estate fund ever in Japan, with AI infrastructure, Nordic buyouts, and a Dragoneer continuation fund carrying OpenAI and SpaceX stakes in between. ARCH disclosed a $3B target for Fund XIV via Form D. That matches the size of Fund XIII, which closed above $3B in September 2024 with a $100M commitment from UTIMCO. ARCH backs early-stage life sciences and AI-driven drug discovery, with Fund XIII's portfolio including Xaira Therapeutics, Metsera, Mirador Therapeutics, and ArsenalBio. Dakota Insights is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. AIP is targeting $8B for Capital Fund IX. PennSERS approved a commitment of up to $150M, a new manager relationship for the pension. The New York-based firm targets 10 to 15 control investments in large industrials across North America and Europe, with equity tickets of $400M to $700M. Their prior fund closed at a $5B hard cap in 2023. Blackstone's GP Stakes unit took a roughly 10% passive minority stake in AIP's management company in January 2025. a16z raised $1.1B for the Machine Age Fund, its first dedicated AI hardware vehicle. The fund targets chips, memory, networking, storage, data centers, robotics, and AI-enabled devices. Hardware has grown from a small slice of a16z's deal flow to more than 20% over the past two years. This is separate from the firm's Infrastructure and American Dynamism funds, which together added $2.9B in January as part of a16z's $15B raise, its largest to date. Ares closed Japan Logistics Development Partners V at its JPY 612B ($4B) hard cap, nearly 50% larger than JDP IV. CPPIB anchored with JPY 150B ($968M), its participation in every JDP vintage since 2011. The fund develops institutional logistics facilities in Greater Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. This is Ares' largest closed-end institutional fundraise to date. Axcel closed Fund VIII at its €2.1B hard cap, 60% larger than the €1.3B Fund VII. The Copenhagen-based firm focuses on Nordic and Northern European mid-market buyouts. Closing above target at this scale while broader European fundraising has slowed is notable. Aligned Climate Capital disclosed a first close for Aligned Solar Partners 7, targeting $500M to acquire and build out construction-ready distributed solar and storage projects nationwide. The firm has already identified more than 500 MW of potential portfolio projects. Their prior fund (ASP6) closed above its $200M target at more than $240M in May 2025. Bush Foundation is among the early investors in ASP7. Khosla filed a Form D for Khosla Ventures Moonshot with an $800M target. No capital raised yet. Bloomberg reported the firm is pursuing as much as $5.5B across a new set of vehicles spanning seed, early-stage, and opportunity strategies, which would be its largest fundraising effort in two decades. Vinod Khosla was an early OpenAI backer. Greystar raised $451M from three investors for Greystar Infrastructure Partners I. The firm launched its infrastructure platform in August 2024 targeting solar, battery storage, water management, renewable natural gas, cell towers, data centers, and waste management. Greystar is the largest apartment operator in the US with more than $79B in AUM. In June, Greystar Infrastructure led an equity recap of Zentro Internet alongside StepStone Group. Dragoneer raised $1B for a continuation fund that offered LP access to stakes in OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks, and wealth manager Creative Planning. The fund also helps the firm hold Amwins Group and PointClickCare longer, and targets a 2-to-1 public-to-private ratio. Deals reportedly carried discounts of 5% to 20%, with some holdings at par. LGT raised €850M for its seventh dedicated European small buyout fund, exceeding the €800M target. The Switzerland-based firm accesses constrained European PE managers through primaries, secondaries, and co-investments. The prior fund closed above its €750M target in October 2024. LGT manages more than $100B in assets across 700-plus institutional clients in 44 countries. A few threads run through September's list. AI infrastructure is pulling in capital from multiple directions (a16z's Machine Age Fund, hardware-adjacent bets). Continuation vehicles are becoming a standard tool for GPs that want to hold trophy assets longer without forcing LP exits. And non-US strategies are drawing serious allocator capital: Ares' Japan logistics platform, Axcel's Nordic buyout, and LGT's European small buyout fund all closed above target in a challenging fundraising environment. Fundraising totals tell you who is in market.Dakotatracks Net IRR, TVPI, DPI, and RVPI across18,000+ private fundsso you can benchmark these vehicles against true vintage and strategy peers once they are deployed.Request accessto follow these funds from first close through track record. Dakota Insights is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.