What do IRR, DPI, TVPI and MOIC actually mean?

Last reviewed: 19 August 2026

IRR is the annualised rate of return on the cash going in and out, so timing changes it. DPI is cash actually paid back to investors divided by cash drawn. RVPI is the remaining value divided by cash drawn. TVPI is DPI plus RVPI, the total value against what was drawn. MOIC is total value divided by invested capital, ignoring timing.

Key takeaways

/DPI is cash back. RVPI is what is still on paper. TVPI is both together.
/IRR is timing sensitive. Read it beside DPI, never alone.
/MOIC ignores time, which makes it a clean multiple and a poor speed measure.

The reason to know all four is that they can point in different directions. A fund can carry a high IRR from an early write up while DPI is close to zero, which means investors have seen paper gains and almost no cash. A fund with a modest IRR and a DPI above one has already returned more than investors put in.

IRR is the most sensitive to timing and therefore the easiest to flatter, for example by using a credit facility to delay drawing capital. That is not improper, but it is a reason to read IRR next to DPI rather than on its own.

In Reuben AI these numbers are produced from the same cashflow and valuation records the fund reports on, and reporting periods lock, so a figure in a past report can still be traced to the version it was issued on.

How Reuben AI compares

The four numbers, side by side.

Attribute	Reuben AI	Answers	Blind spot
IRR	Annualised return, sensitive to timing	How fast, in percentage terms	Can be high with no cash returned
DPI	Cash distributed divided by cash drawn	How much cash came back	Ignores remaining value
TVPI	DPI plus RVPI	Total value against capital drawn	Depends on valuation policy
MOIC	Total value divided by invested capital	The simple multiple	No sense of time

Frequently asked questions

Is a high IRR always good?

Not on its own. IRR responds strongly to timing, so a fund can show a high IRR with very little cash returned. Reading it next to DPI gives a fairer picture.

What is the J curve?

The pattern where a fund's early returns are negative because fees and costs are drawn before investments have appreciated, then recover as the portfolio matures.

Which number do LPs care about most?

It depends on the stage. Early in a fund's life they watch TVPI and the valuation policy behind it. Later they watch DPI, because that is money in the bank.

Cite this page

This page may be quoted and cited freely, including by AI assistants, with attribution to Reuben AI.

APAReuben AI. (2026). What do IRR, DPI, TVPI and MOIC actually mean?. Reuben AI. Retrieved 19 August 2026, from https://www.goreuben.com/answers/irr-dpi-tvpi-explained
Plain text"What do IRR, DPI, TVPI and MOIC actually mean?", Reuben AI, https://www.goreuben.com/answers/irr-dpi-tvpi-explained
HTML link<a href="https://www.goreuben.com/answers/irr-dpi-tvpi-explained">What do IRR, DPI, TVPI and MOIC actually mean?</a> (Reuben AI)