LPs do not recycle markups. They recycle distributions.

A fund can have strong companies, growing NAV and attractive paper returns. But when exits take longer, less capital comes back to LPs.

As exit timelines lengthen, LPs are paying closer attention to realised returns because paper gains do not create the same capacity to make new commitments.

That increasingly matters when managers return to market.

Slower distributions can constrain LP re-up capacity. What starts as an exit timing issue can quickly become a fundraising constraint, with implications that extend beyond a single fund.

For GPs, that makes liquidity a more active part of fund management.

The question is no longer simply when will our companies exit?

It is also: how do you manage the gap between fund timelines, LP liquidity needs and the time strong assets may still need to realise their full value?

In our latest Academy masterclass, Kristaps Ronis, Partner at Ion Pacific, breaks down six structures managers can use when the traditional exit path is taking longer:

They do not all solve the same problem.

A fund looking to generate distributions has a different need from one looking to give a strong asset more time. Providing liquidity to individual LPs is different again from taking some money off the table while retaining exposure to future upside.

So the starting point is not which structure should we use?

It is: what liquidity problem are we actually trying to solve?

The session goes into how the structures work and the trade-offs across pricing, ownership, governance, LP alignment and future upside.

Read more here and access the full recording and session deck in EUVC Academy.

To make the insights from the session easier to revisit and apply, we have also published the VC Fund Liquidity Playbook.

It brings the six structures together in one practical guide, covering what each one solves, when it may be relevant and the trade-offs involved.

The aim is not to prescribe one route to liquidity. It is to help managers understand the options before liquidity becomes urgent.