The total size of private equity funds reaches a new high of 22.6 trillion yuan

Reporters: Chang Xiaoyu, Fang Lingchen

On the evening of March 24, the Asset Management Association of China released data showing that by the end of February 2026, the total scale of private equity funds reached 22.60 trillion yuan, setting a historical high. Since January 2025, the cumulative growth of the industry has exceeded 2 trillion yuan; after first breaking through 22 trillion yuan at the end of October 2025, it has continuously set new records for five months, stabilizing above this level.

By type, as of the end of February 2026, there were 81,500 active private securities investment funds with a total scale of 73.5 trillion yuan; 29,900 active private equity investment funds with a total scale of 111.6 trillion yuan; and 28,100 active venture capital funds with a total scale of 38 trillion yuan.

A relevant person in charge of Mengxi Investment analyzed to Securities Daily that from an external environment perspective, the A-share market and some growth-style assets have warmed up, increasing the “book assets” of private equity funds. At the same time, as the overall yield of deposits and other investments declines, some high-net-worth clients and institutional funds have shifted towards private quantitative neutral, enhanced index, or multi-strategy products, generating incremental allocation demand, which has somewhat accelerated the fundraising and issuance pace of private institutions, directly driving the total scale of private equity funds to increase. From an internal industry perspective, some quantitative private institutions are speeding up strategy iteration and technological upgrades, especially in the deepening of AI-powered investment research. This significantly enhances the ability of quantitative private institutions to achieve excess returns.

Li Chunyu, a FOF fund manager at Shenzhen Rongzhi Private Securities Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., told Securities Daily that the strong resilience of the economic fundamentals, deepening reforms in the capital market, and ongoing regulation of the private equity fund industry have collectively strengthened the confidence of medium- and long-term capital to allocate assets through private equity funds, thereby promoting the continuous historical highs in the total scale of private equity funds.

While the total scale of private equity funds continues to reach new highs, a differentiation within the industry is also ongoing—risk-prone institutions are accelerating their clearance, while the number of institutions managing over 10 billion yuan is constantly increasing. The number of private fund managers has been streamlined from 20,300 at the beginning of 2025 to 19,100 by the end of February 2026, indicating a clear trend of “survival of the fittest” within the industry. At the same time, the camp of private institutions managing over 10 billion yuan continues to expand; according to data from Private Equity Ranking, as of the end of February 2026, the number of such private institutions has reached 126, a historical high.

In this regard, a relevant person in charge of Inno Asset stated: “This is an inevitable result of regulatory authorities continuously clearing out ‘fake, inferior, and chaotic’ private equity and promoting the industry’s move towards high-quality development. At the same time, the long-term accumulation of top institutions in terms of talent, data, technology, risk control, and brand further strengthens the scale aggregation effect.”

“This reflects the industry’s transition from a relatively extensive development stage to a new stage where refined operations are the core competitive advantage, which is also an inevitable outcome of the industry’s maturation,” the relevant person in charge of Mengxi Investment analyzed. As relevant laws and regulations continue to improve and investors gradually mature, institutions with weak risk control, distorted strategies, and irregular governance are continuously being cleared out; while leading institutions that possess stable excess return capabilities and drawdown control abilities, and that have strong systematic investment research platforms and customer service capabilities, are more likely to attract capital.

Regarding the future focus of private institutions, the relevant person in charge of Inno Asset believes that the key lies in enhancing specialization and differentiation capabilities, such as strengthening multi-strategy and low-correlation allocation abilities, connecting the entire chain of investment research, trading, and risk control, and promoting cutting-edge technologies like AI and large models to serve investment research and real trading.

For quantitative private institutions, the relevant person in charge of Mengxi Investment believes that talent is particularly crucial. Institutions that can attract and retain top talent are more likely to gain a competitive advantage; therefore, in recent years, quantitative private institutions have been strengthening the construction of “soft power” such as corporate systems and corporate culture. Meanwhile, technology serves as a “moat” for quantitative private institutions, and in the future, more and more institutions will increase their investment in technology, especially in the AI field.