TVPI vs DPI vs RVPI: How to Read an LP Performance Line

TVPI vs DPI vs RVPI is three columns on the same LP commitment, not three glossary pages. The ILPA private-equity glossary defines distributions to paid-in (DPI) as money the fund has already sent back to limited partners, relative to contributions, and residual value to paid-in (RVPI) as leftover NAV — the current value of remaining investments over those same contributions. ILPA’s investment multiple adds reported value and distributions and divides by capital contributed. Preqin names that total TVPI and writes it as the sum of DPI and RVPI. Read the three on one line so a young fund’s TVPI is not treated like a realized multiple, and pair that line with MOIC and IRR.

DPI is cash back; RVPI is leftover NAV

Start with the denominator. ILPA’s glossary: paid-in capital is the amount of committed capital a limited partner has actually transferred — the cumulative takedown — not the pledge. Paid-in to capital committed (PICC) is contributions to date over committed capital. The performance multiples sit on paid-in.

DPI is the cash column. ILPA: the ratio of money distributed to limited partners by the fund, relative to contributions. Distributions are cash and/or securities paid out from the partnership. Preqin’s glossary adds that stock is valued at the distribution date and treated like cash, and that DPI is a cash-performance measure not subject to the judgemental factors that sit in residual value and IRR.

ILPA, citing GIPS, puts recallable distributions in the DPI numerator and reinvested (recalled) capital in the denominator. A distribution that can be called again still bumped DPI; if it comes back in, paid-in rises. Do not net those two events off the page.

RVPI is the leftover-NAV column. ILPA: the ratio of the current value of all remaining investments in the fund to total contributions to date. The same GIPS note puts reinvested capital in the denominator. Preqin: that remaining interest is derived from the GP’s valuation of the unrealized portfolio and its allocation to the LP. It moves when the GP marks. It is not cash.

TVPI is the sum, because the denominator is shared

ILPA’s investment multiple is reported value plus distributions received, divided by total capital contributed. That is the TVPI numerator and denominator. Preqin’s glossary states TVPI as the sum of DPI and RVPI — distributed cash and securities plus the LP’s remaining interest. Because both fractions use paid-in, adding the two columns recovers the headline.

ILPA’s 2016 Quarterly Reporting Standards put TVPI, RVPI, and DPI on the same executive-summary block as “key valuation metrics.” The sample pack prints DPI 0.3x, RVPI 0.9x, TVPI 1.2x. ILPA labels the figures a teaching format, not a live fund, and says sample numbers are not meant to tie across every exhibit. They do tie on the identity: 0.3 + 0.9 = 1.2. That is the LP performance line. A dashboard TVPI with no DPI column hides how much of the multiple is already in your account.

Pair the line with MOIC and IRR

TVPI vs DPI vs RVPI tells you how the multiple is split. It does not tell you how fast the cash moved, and it does not tell you whether leftover NAV will clear. Raziel’s live MOIC vs IRR page is the magnitude-versus-pace argument. This page is the three columns of the multiple. On an LP pack, fund-level TVPI is the cousin of deal-level MOIC; check the denominator (paid-in, which can include fee calls, versus invested capital) before you paste one number into a MOIC calculator.

A young fund’s TVPI is mostly RVPI. Treating that figure like a harvested multiple is the error. ILPA’s glossary on the J-curve: paying the management fee and start-up costs out of the first drawdown does not produce equivalent book value, so a fund initially shows a negative return. DPI near zero with TVPI sitting on residual value is a mark plus fees, not cash-on-cash.

IRR is the clock on the same cash. A fast small distribution can lift the percentage while the money multiple barely moves — that is the MOIC vs IRR warning, not a second glossary. Use an IRR calculator only if you have dates. ILPA’s Performance Template, for funds commencing operations on or after January 1, 2026, standardizes fund-level net IRR and net TVPI both with and without fund-level subscription facilities, from a cash-flow table. A 2026-vintage pack that prints one TVPI with no “ex-facility” column is missing the pair ILPA asked GPs to show. It still may not split DPI and RVPI; you still should.

How to read the three columns together

In the investment period, DPI stays low and RVPI is close to TVPI. The line is a mark. In harvest, distributions replace NAV: DPI rises, RVPI falls, TVPI can sit still while paper becomes cash. When residual value is gone, DPI equals TVPI — that is the realized multiple. High DPI with TVPI barely above it means leftover NAV is thin. High TVPI with DPI still small means you are looking at GP marks.

Do not invent a “good” TVPI. Preqin’s returns lesson treats DPI, RVPI, and TVPI as metrics you benchmark against a peer group of similar funds on a reporting date — vintage and strategy, not a universal hurdle. Your job on the statement is narrower: three columns, one commitment, cash dates on the wires that produced them. A private equity spreadsheet that holds commitment, called, unfunded, NAV, and the three multiples is the book; the performance line is the output.

Raziel’s VC and private equity portfolio-management page names IRR, MOIC, DPI, and RVPI as the stack to track. The site asks investors to track MOIC and IRR in one dashboard. The honest input is still the three columns on the same commitment, with dates, not a headline TVPI treated as cash.