In a broad sense, PE refers to the equity investment covering all stages before the initial public offering of an enterprise, that is, the investment made by the enterprise in each stage of seed stage, initial stage, development stage, expansion stage, maturity stage and Pre-IPO. Related capital can be divided into venture capital, development capital, buyout/buy fund, mezzanine capital and working capital according to the investment stage. Pre-IPO capital (such as bridge financing) and others, such as private investment of public equity (PIPE), differential debt of non-performing loans and real estate investment.

In a narrow sense, PE mainly refers to the private equity investment part of mature enterprises that have formed a certain scale and generated stable cash flow, mainly refers to the private equity investment part in the later stage of venture capital, in which M&A funds and mezzanine capital account for the largest part of capital scale. In China, PE mainly refers to this kind of investment.

Good PE projects can be referenced in the "PE Platform" of "China Home of Big Investors".