# Paid-In Capital

**Paid-in capital** (also called **drawn capital**, **called capital**, or **contributed capital**) is the cumulative total of all [contributions](/fund-mechanics/contribution.md) an LP has made to a fund across every settled capital call. It grows with each new call settled and represents the LP's actual cash investment in the fund to date.

## Formula

```
Paid-in capital = Sum of all settled capital call contributions
```

At fund inception, paid-in capital is zero. It increases by the LP's allocation amount each time a capital call is settled. It does not decrease — even if a distribution is later recalled, the paid-in balance does not reverse (the recall reinstates [unfunded commitment](/fund-mechanics/unfunded.md), not paid-in capital).

## Role in Performance Metrics

Paid-in capital is the denominator of the three core LP return metrics:

| Metric   | Formula                                 | What it measures                     |
| -------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| **TVPI** | (Distributions + NAV) / Paid-in capital | Total return (realized + unrealized) |
| **DPI**  | Distributions / Paid-in capital         | Realized return only                 |
| **RVPI** | NAV / Paid-in capital                   | Unrealized return only               |

A fund with high paid-in capital but low DPI has deployed a lot of capital but returned little cash — typical early in the harvesting phase. As exits close and distributions flow, DPI rises and RVPI falls, while TVPI captures the sum.

## Fund-Level Paid-In Capital

The fund-level paid-in capital is the sum of all LP paid-in capital amounts. It represents total cash the fund has received from LPs and is the deployment baseline used by GPs when reporting to LPs and to fund administrators.

## Where Gildi Displays It

Paid-in capital appears in three places in Gildi:

1. **LP fund overview** — per-LP paid-in capital and the resulting TVPI/DPI/RVPI metrics.
2. **Capital ledger** — a time-series view of paid-in capital growth across all calls.
3. **GP dashboard** — total fund paid-in capital used for pacing and reporting.

The balance is maintained in real time and updates as soon as a contribution is recorded as settled.

## Relationship to Other Concepts

* [Contribution](/fund-mechanics/contribution.md) — each individual cash payment that increments paid-in capital.
* [Unfunded Commitment](/fund-mechanics/unfunded.md) — the complement: total commitment minus paid-in capital.
* [LP Commitment](/fund-mechanics/lp-commitment.md) — the total obligation; paid-in capital cannot exceed it.
* TVPI / DPI / RVPI — the return metrics that use paid-in capital as their denominator.


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