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FinanceVenture Capital

Chart of the day: Venture capital outperformed the stock market

By
Dan Primack
Dan Primack
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By
Dan Primack
Dan Primack
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August 4, 2015, 11:05 AM ET
Markets React To Vote In Greece Rejecting Terms Of Bailout
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 06: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on July 6, 2015 in New York City. Following news that Greece has voted "No" in a referendum on the country's bailout terms and continued volitility in the Chinese market, stocks were down in morning trading with the Dow off 70 points. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Photograph by Spencer Platt — Getty Images

U.S. venture capital funds outperformed the public stock markets in 2014, according to new research published this morning by research firm Cambridge Associates. U.S. private equity returns also topped public equities, albeit by a smaller margin.

This data is through year-end 2014, and is net of fees.

CAdata1

To be sure, one-year returns for long-term asset classes like venture capital or private equity are lousy measures of actual performance. But since they often are cited by industry critics when they fall short of the S&P 500 or the Russell 2000, it’s probably worth mentioning then they are superior.

U.S. venture capital and private equity also beat both the S&P 500 and Russell 500 for the 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, 20-year and 25-year periods (stock market returns bested U.S. VC and PE for the 3-year period).

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