DPI vs TVPI: Key Differences Explained

What is TVPI vs DPI in practice? The table compares them on what each measures, who uses it, legal and tax treatment, risk, liquidity and a typical reading.

In short, what is TVPI and DPI? Two ratios with the same denominator and different numerators. Both come from GIPS, the performance standards of the CFA Institute (GIPS 2020). The denominator is paid-in capital, the money you have actually sent the fund. Money you committed but the fund has not yet asked for stays out of it. That uncalled amount is your unfunded commitment.

In private equity, both ratios are measured on the cash flows between the fund and its investors. So they come after management fees, fund expenses and carry, the manager’s share of profit. ILPA, a trade body for fund investors, publishes a standard performance template. For funds starting on or after January 1, 2026, it reports net TVPI at the top, with and without the effect of a subscription credit line. That is a loan the fund draws on before it calls your money (ILPA, 2025).

The fund’s deal-by-deal multiple is a different number. That is MOIC, usually shown before fees. How the two differ is covered in MOIC vs TVPI.

The third ratio closes the gap. RVPI (residual value to paid-in) is the fund’s remaining value per dollar paid in. That value is the net asset value (NAV), what the holdings are worth minus what the fund owes. Since all three share one denominator, the sum is exact: TVPI = DPI + RVPI.

Here is one investor’s position in an illustrative fund. The investor commits $1,000,000 in March 2020. The fund calls money four times, pays out twice and still holds one company at the end of 2025.

Read the rows top to bottom. In 2020, TVPI sits below 1.0x because fees are paid from the first money called. That early dip is the J-curve. By 2023, the first sale lifts DPI to 0.40x. By 2025, DPI reaches 1.00x, so the investor has every dollar back. The remaining 0.75x is still a valuation of one company.

• TVPI, 2023 → 20251.45x → 1.75x, +21%
• DPI, 2023 → 20250.40x → 1.00x, two and a half times higher
• RVPI, 2023 → 20251.05x → 0.75x, as value turned into cash

DPI

For

It is cash, so a later markdown cannot take it back. It shows whether the fund has returned your money. It is the number to use for planning your own cash.

Against

It ignores everything the fund still holds. A young fund shows zero even when its companies are doing well. A recalled distribution can push it down again.

Verdict: DPI is the measure for a fund past its middle years. By then, a fund with a high TVPI and a low DPI has made promises it has not yet kept. For a fund under five years old, DPI says little about the final result.

TVPI

For

It counts the full position, sold and unsold. It lets you compare funds of the same age and strategy. It shows the J-curve and the recovery from it.

Against

Most of it can be a valuation for years. It ignores time, so the same 1.75x reads the same over five years or twelve. It falls when holdings are marked down.

Verdict: TVPI is the measure for comparing funds of the same vintage year while they still hold most of their companies. Always read it with DPI, and with IRR for the speed. A TVPI that stays flat while DPI rises is a fund turning paper into cash.

If you hold a fund, a capital call and a distribution both change these ratios. A call raises paid-in capital, so both ratios fall a little the day it is paid. A distribution moves value from RVPI to DPI, and TVPI stays the same. So a rise in DPI with a flat TVPI is the fund doing its job.

The same arithmetic works on a single-deal SPV, a company set up to hold one investment. Your TVPI is what you have been distributed plus your share of its NAV, over what you paid in. Your DPI is the first part alone. Axevil reports NAV and distributions for each SPV in the app. See what an SPV is for how such a vehicle is set up.

For the full definitions, read what TVPI is and what RVPI is. For how payouts are split between you and the manager, see the distribution waterfall.

Common Mistakes

• Reading TVPI without DPIThe same 1.75x can be cash in hand or almost entirely valuations.
• Judging a young fund by DPIIn the first years, DPI is usually zero. That is normal and says little about the outcome.
• Dividing by the commitmentBoth ratios divide by paid-in capital. Money not yet called is left out.
• Comparing across vintagesA 2017 fund and a 2022 fund are at different points of their lives. Compare funds that started in the same year.
• Mixing gross and netInvestor reports should show net figures, after fees and carry. A gross figure is higher and is not what you received.

DPI

Distributions to paid-in: cash or shares returned to investors, per dollar paid in. Also called the realization multiple.

TVPI

Total value to paid-in: distributions plus remaining value, per dollar paid in. Also called the investment multiple.

RVPI

Residual value to paid-in: the fund’s remaining NAV, per dollar paid in. TVPI minus DPI.

Paid-in capital

The money investors have actually sent the fund so far. It can be less than their commitment.

Unfunded commitment

The part of a commitment the fund has not yet called.

NAV (net asset value)

What a fund’s holdings are worth at their estimated value, minus what it owes.

J-curve

The early dip of a fund’s returns below zero, as fees are paid before investments gain value.

Vintage year

The year a fund starts investing. Funds are compared with others of the same vintage.

Subscription credit line

A loan a fund draws on before it calls investors’ money. ILPA’s template shows net results with and without it.

MOIC

Multiple on invested capital: the deal-level multiple, usually before fees.

Definitions and standards were last checked on October 29, 2026. GIPS and ILPA are industry standards without the force of law. A fund’s own documents set the definitions it reports under. The SEC Marketing Rule is a US rule for investment advisers. The fund example is illustrative and contains no market data.