Multi-entity waterfalls for private equity deal structures

Author: Jordan Agnew
Published date: May 1, 2026

PE firms can now run waterfalls across their entire deal structure—TopCo, HoldCo, co-invest vehicles—and roll up results firm-wide.

The complexity of PE deal structures demands better solutions

Private equity deal structures differ fundamentally from those of venture-backed companies. Firms invest through layered ownership vehicles—aggregators, HoldCos, co-invest SPVs, and operating company layers—creating a persistent challenge: understanding your true holdings across all your fund’s entities.

Until now, deal and valuation teams had no choice but to run waterfalls on individual entities, manually parse out their holdings, and stitch results together in spreadsheets. Carta Multi-Entity Waterfalls closes that gap.

Built around how PE firms actually work

Carta has expanded its waterfall modeling tool with capabilities that match how PE deal and valuation teams operate:

• Look-through ownership and firm-wide multi-entity waterfall reports: Carta computes look-through ownership from your fund down to the operating company, across every layer. Run a waterfall on any entity and instantly isolate your firm’s direct and indirect holdings—no manual parsing required. Export consolidated waterfall results across every multi-entity investment in your portfolio in a single report.

• Deal groups: Visualize all the entities within your deal structures—your aggregator, co-invest SPVs, the portco’s TopCo, and any sub-entities clearly in one place.

Author: Jordan Agnew
Jordan Agnew is a Group Product Manager based in Carta's San Francisco office. He leads product for Carta's suite of Middle Office solutions. Previously he worked on launching Carta's QSBS product as well as some of the earliest investor products.