IRR Calculator

Fill in any three of investment, exit value, multiple, years or annualized return, and the calculator solves for the missing fourth. Then layer on a hurdle rate and a full GP carry waterfall to see how the profit splits between LPs and the GP. No sign-up — your numbers never leave your browser.

Leave one field blank (or pick it below) and it is solved from the rest.

Initial investment ($)

Final value at exit ($)

Multiple (x) — optional

Holding period (years)

Annualized return / IRR (%)

Solve for

— Annualized return (IRR)
— Multiple
— Final value

🔒 Calculated in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Illustration only — not investment advice.

Add a hurdle rate / preferred return

Hurdle rate (%/yr)

Accrual

Preferred return owed—
Hurdle threshold (capital + pref)—

Compound: pref = PV × ((1 + h)^n − 1) · Simple: pref = PV × h × n.

Add a GP carry waterfall

Carry (%)

100% GP catch-up

Total profit (FV − PV)—
→ LP capital returned—
→ Preferred return to LPs—
→ GP catch-up—
→ Residual split to GP—

— GP carry ($)
— LP net multiple
— LP net IRR

LP total distribution—
GP carry as % of total profit—

What is the IRR Calculator?

This IRR calculator answers three connected questions on one page. First, it solves the internal rate of return for a single investment — one amount in at the start, one amount out at the exit — which is the most common "what was my annualized return" question and the case where IRR is the same as the compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Second, it lets you add a hurdle rate (preferred return) so you can see the minimum annualized return limited partners are owed before any carry is paid. Third, it runs a full GP carry waterfall so you can see exactly how the profit splits between the limited partners (LPs) and the general partner (GP), with or without a 100% catch-up. Everything runs in your browser, with no sign-up and no data leaving your device.

It is built for the people who actually need carry and hurdle math — VC and PE limited partners, fund managers and founders negotiating terms, and real-estate sponsors checking a promote — but the core IRR/CAGR solver is just as useful for an individual investor working out the annualized return on a single buy-and-sell.

How to use it

The page has three stacked sections. You can use just the first, or switch on the others.

Core IRR / multiple solver (always on). Fill in any three of initial investment, final value (or a multiple such as 10 for 10x), holding period in years, and annualized return. Pick what you want to solve for and read the answer instantly.
Hurdle rate / preferred return (optional). Switch it on, type the hurdle rate (for example 8%) and choose Simple or Compound. The tool shows the preferred return LPs are owed plus the hurdle threshold (capital back plus the preferred return).
GP carry waterfall (optional). Type the carry percentage (for example 20%) and, if your terms include it, switch on the 100% GP catch-up. The tool distributes the exit value through the standard waterfall and reports the LP and GP outcomes, including LP net multiple and LP net IRR.

Adjust any input and every number updates live — get your answer and move on.

The formula / method behind it

Core IRR (single cash flow = CAGR)

With one investment at the start and one value at the exit:

FV = PV × (1 + r)^n
Multiple m = FV / PV = (1 + r)^n

Solving for whichever variable is missing:

IRR / rate: r = m^(1/n) − 1
Final value: FV = PV × (1 + r)^n
Years: n = ln(m) / ln(1 + r)
Initial investment: PV = FV / (1 + r)^n

Because there are only two cash flows, this IRR is identical to the CAGR. If money goes in and out on several different dates, you need XIRR instead — see the FAQ.

Hurdle rate / preferred return

Over n years on capital PV at hurdle h:

Simple: pref = PV × h × n
Compound: pref = PV × ((1 + h)^n − 1)
Hurdle threshold value: PV + pref

The compound version lets the preferred return itself earn the hurdle each year, so over several years it is meaningfully larger than the simple version — which is why the choice of clause matters.

GP carry waterfall (European-style)

Let total profit TP = FV − PV. If TP ≤ 0 there is no carry and the LP bears the loss. Otherwise the exit value is distributed in order:

Return of capital — LPs receive PV back first.
Preferred return — LPs receive min(TP, pref) (with pref = 0 if the hurdle section is off).
GP catch-up (only if enabled) — the GP is paid 100% of the next distributions until it has earned its carry share of everything above capital. The full catch-up amount is catchup = pref × carry / (1 − carry), capped by the profit remaining after the pref.
Carry split — the remaining profit is split GP = carry, LP = 1 − carry.

Reported outputs: total profit, LP total distribution, LP profit, LP net multiple = LP_dist / PV, LP net IRR = (LP_dist / PV)^(1/n) − 1, GP carry ($), and GP carry as a % of total profit. A key property to notice: with a full catch-up the GP ends up with its carry percentage of all profit; without a catch-up the carry applies only to profit above the preferred return, which is better for LPs.

Examples

Example 1 — 10x in 3 years, what IRR?
You turn $1.0M into $10.0M over 3 years. Multiple m = 10, n = 3. r = 10^(1/3) − 1 = 1.1544, so the IRR (and CAGR) is 115.4% per year.

Example 2 — $100k at 25% IRR for 5 years, what is it worth?
PV = $100,000, r = 25%, n = 5. FV = 100,000 × 1.25^5 = $305,176. The investment more than triples (a 3.05x multiple).

Example 3 — $10M fund, 8% compound hurdle, 20% carry, with vs without catch-up.
A $10M commitment returns $25M at exit after 5 years, so total profit TP = $15.0M. The compound 8% preferred return over 5 years is pref = 10M × (1.08^5 − 1) = $4,693,281.

Without catch-up: carry applies only to the $10.31M of profit above the pref. GP carry = (15M − 4.69M) × 20% = $2,061,344 (about 13.7% of total profit). LPs receive capital + pref + 80% of the residual = $22,938,656, an LP net multiple of 2.29x and an LP net IRR of about 18.06%.
With 100% catch-up: the GP catches up $1,173,320 and then splits the rest 20/80, ending with $3,000,000 of carry — exactly 20% of all $15M of profit. LPs receive $22,000,000, an LP net multiple of 2.20x and an LP net IRR of about 17.08%.

Same deal, same headline carry rate — the catch-up clause alone shifts roughly $0.94M from LPs to the GP and trims about a point off the LP's net IRR. That is the kind of comparison this tool is built to make obvious.

Common use cases

LP due diligence: an investor evaluating a fund or a specific deal wants the LP net IRR and net multiple after hurdle and carry, not just the gross return.
Fund term negotiation: managers and LPs comparing 8% vs 6% hurdles, simple vs compound pref, or catch-up vs no catch-up, to see who each clause favors and by how much.
Founder / operator equity: quickly converting "we returned 5x in 6 years" into an annualized IRR for a pitch deck or an internal model.
Real-estate promote: sponsors and investors checking how a preferred return and promote (carry) split the upside on a project.
Personal investing: working out the annualized return on a single buy-and-sell — a stock, a property, a collectible — or how many years it takes to double money at a given rate.

Why use this one

Most IRR calculators online stop at a textbook multi-cash-flow IRR, and the few that model carry sit behind a login or inside a paid spreadsheet template. This one puts the single-cash-flow IRR/multiple solver, the hurdle (simple or compound) and the full GP carry waterfall with optional catch-up on a single page, lets you fill any three inputs and solve for the fourth, and shows every result next to the formula and waterfall step it came from. It is purpose-built for VC/PE/LP terms yet runs entirely in your browser — no sign-up, no upload, and sensitive fund and deal numbers never leave your device.

This tool is for information and illustration only and is not investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. It models simplified, idealized terms: a single cash flow in and one out (so the IRR equals the CAGR), and a stylized European-style carry waterfall. It does not handle multiple irregular cash flows — for a series of dated contributions and distributions you need an XIRR calculation. Real fund agreements include fees, clawbacks, multiple closings, fee offsets and American-style deal-by-deal carry that this tool does not capture. Use it to build intuition and sanity-check numbers, and consult qualified professionals and the actual legal documents before making decisions.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the IRR equal the CAGR for a single investment?

When there is exactly one cash outflow at the start and one cash inflow at the end, the internal rate of return is the single growth rate that turns your initial investment into the final value, which is exactly the compound annual growth rate (CAGR). With FV = PV x (1 + r)^n, solving for r gives r = (FV / PV)^(1/n) - 1. For example, turning $1 into $10 over 3 years is 10^(1/3) - 1 = 115.4% a year. Note that this single-cash-flow case is where IRR and CAGR coincide; if money goes in and out at several different dates, you need XIRR instead (see below).

Does this tool handle multiple irregular cash flows (XIRR)?

No. This calculator solves the single-cash-flow case: one amount invested at the start and one amount received at the exit, which is the most common 'what was my annualized return' question and the case where IRR equals CAGR. If you have a series of contributions and distributions on different dates — a typical fund cash-flow schedule — you need an XIRR calculation, which finds the rate that sets the net present value of all dated cash flows to zero. We say this plainly so you are never misled about what the number represents.

What is a hurdle rate / preferred return, and what is the difference between simple and compound?

A hurdle rate (also called a preferred return or 'pref') is the minimum annualized return limited partners must receive before the general partner earns any carried interest. With a simple hurdle, the preferred amount is PV x hurdle x years; with a compound hurdle, it is PV x ((1 + hurdle)^years - 1), so the preferred return itself earns the hurdle each year. Over several years the compound version is meaningfully larger, so whether a fund's pref is simple or compounding materially changes how much the LP is owed before carry kicks in. Many fund agreements specify one or the other, so the tool lets you switch and compare.

How does GP catch-up change the carry, and who does it favor?

With a 100% GP catch-up, after LPs receive their preferred return the GP is paid 100% of the next distributions until the GP has earned its carry percentage of all profit distributed so far (including the preferred return). The result is that the GP ends up with its carry percentage of the entire profit, not just the profit above the hurdle. Without a catch-up, the carry applies only to profit above the preferred return, which is more favorable to LPs. For example, on $15M of profit with an 8% compound hurdle and 20% carry, a full catch-up gives the GP exactly $3.0M (20% of all profit), while no catch-up gives the GP about $2.06M (roughly 13.7% of profit) and leaves the rest with LPs.

Is any of my data uploaded when I use this IRR calculator?

No. Every calculation — the IRR / multiple solver, the hurdle math and the full carry waterfall — runs locally in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing you type (deal sizes, fund terms, return figures) is sent to or stored on any server, so sensitive fund and investment numbers stay private on your device. There is no sign-up and no account.

Is this calculator financial or investment advice?

No. This tool is for information and illustration only and is not investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. It models simplified, idealized terms (a single cash flow in and out, a stylized European-style waterfall) and real fund agreements contain provisions — fees, clawbacks, multiple closings, fee offsets, American-style deal-by-deal carry — that this tool does not capture. Use it to build intuition and to sanity-check numbers, and consult qualified professionals and the actual legal documents before making decisions.