What does DPI mean with respect to private fund returns?

Distributions to Paid-In (DPI) is an important metric for assessing the success of an investment by measuring the capital returned to the investors. A DPI of 1.67x, for example, means that, on average, investors have received $1.67 for every dollar they initially contributed at this specific moment in time. Distributions typically occur during liquidity events, such as a company going public or being sold. DPI is also known as the cash-on-cash multiple or realization multiple.