Going crazy! Quant funds are collectively surging, with four "top-tier" private equity firms each exceeding 80 billion yuan in assets under management. Over 50 firms have surpassed 10 billion yuan. Who is investing?

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They’re absolutely going wild! Quant funds surge collectively, with the four “top-tier” private funds all exceeding 80B yuan in AUM; more than 50 have reached the “hundreds of billions” scale—who is investing? Industry insiders: three kinds of money are flooding in

Reporter: Li Na | Editor: Chen Keming Ye Feng Du Hengfeng

In Q1 2026, the quant private fund industry is showing a hard-core leap forward: Fangfang, Jiukun, Mingxun, and Yanfu have all entered the 80B to 70B yuan range, and it seems that the “trillion-dollar” firms are no longer far away. Meanwhile, many institutions including Jingshi, Qianxiang, and Longqi have jumped across two to three size tiers consecutively, and the lineup reshuffle is fierce. According to public data, as of the end of Q1 this year, there are already more than 50 quant private fund managers with AUM exceeding 100 billion yuan. External capital is pouring in aggressively: the combined effect of existing clients re-subscribing, channel support, and institutional allocations rapidly pushes up the scale of quant private funds. At the same time, the competitive logic has changed: outperforming alone is no longer enough—service capabilities are becoming the new winning point.

Image source: AI-generated

Tier acceleration and leaps

Trillion-dollar giants are no longer far away

How fast are quant private fund managers expanding their footprint?

From the AUM map published under “Quantitative Investing and Machine Learning,” in Q1 2026, quant private fund managers in China across different tiers show significantly enhanced liquidity among the tiers; the top cohort continues to rise.

In the highest tier, Fangfang Quant, Jiukun Investment, Mingxun Investment, and Yanfu Investment are already tied in the 80B to 90B yuan range, seemingly not far from the trillion-dollar threshold. And as of the end of 2025, these four firms were still in the 80B to 60B yuan range. Chengqi Fund joined the 70B to 50B yuan range; Blackwing Assets and Wanyan Assets were added to the 60B to 40B yuan range; Maoyuan Quant and Tianyan Capital entered the 50B to 30B yuan range; and the 40B to 20B yuan range added Evolutions-on-theory Assets.

The mid-size tier has also moved up across the board: in the 30B to 15B yuan range, new entrants include Mengxi Investment, Nankong Nanjue, Turing Fund, Zhengding Private Fund, and Zhuoshi Fund; in the 20B to 15B yuan range, new entrants include Beiyang Quant, Jingge RouRui, Neuda Investment, and Weimiao Boyi.

Image source: Quantitative Investing and Machine Learning

Meanwhile, eight managers—including Ban Yang Private Fund, Hongxi Fund, Kui Quant Private Fund, Lishu Investment, Mingxi Capital, Shenyi Investment, Totte Investment, and Youmeili Investment—have all surpassed 10 billion yuan (i.e., exceeded 10 billion) and entered the 10 billion to 150 billion yuan queue. Hanrong Investment, Huishi Assets, Qianying Investment, and Shengfeng Fund have entered the 5 billion to 10 billion yuan queue.

Most striking is the “step-jump” phenomenon for some managers: they are not rising in an orderly step-by-step manner; instead, they cross two or even three size ranges within a single quarter. At the end of 2025, Jingshi Fund’s AUM—still in the 200 billion to 40B yuan range—leaped three tiers in a row, jumping directly into the 20B to 30B yuan queue, becoming the case with the largest quarter-to-quarter size span. Qianxiang Investment and Zhengying Assets jumped two levels into the 30B to 300 billion yuan range; Fanghe Sum Investment jumped two levels into the 50B to 60B yuan range; and Longqi Technology jumped two levels into the 500 billion to 600 billion yuan range.

There is no doubt that the rapid advancement of these managers indicates that the pace at which money concentrates toward the quant industry’s top tier is accelerating, and reshuffling within internal tiers is becoming increasingly intense.

Three types of capital are flowing into quant

Quant private funds’ AUM jumped quickly in Q1, and it is not only driven by net value increases. Multiple quant private fund practitioners and heads of broker custodianship businesses interviewed all said that sustained net inflows of external capital are the core driving force behind this round of expansion, and that the capital structure also shows obvious seasonality and an institutionalization trend.

Previously, according to data from private fund-picking platform Paimi, as of February 28, 2026, across the whole market there were 722 private fund institutions with a total of 1,366 registered private securities products, up 151.57% year-over-year from 543 in February 2025; up 100.88% month-over-month from 680 in January 2026. Both year-over-year and month-over-month doubled.

“Every year, in Q1—especially after the Spring Festival—there are great opportunities for quant private fund AUM expansion.” A person in charge of the quant private fund market told reporters, “In Q2 and Q3, the funding environment is relatively flat, and in Q4 clients often redeem. In Q1, after clients receive their year-end bonus, their willingness to add subscriptions is strongest. Plus, last year our overall performance was good, so clients’ trust is relatively high; they re-subscribe quickly.”

An insider related to a quant private fund with hundreds of billions in AUM said: “We mainly do direct sales, so existing clients subscribe a lot. Also, it’s institutional money—especially cooperation with FOFs on the broker asset management side, where there are also quite a lot.”

A custodian person at a securities firm told reporters: “We observe that the external capital driving the rapid expansion of quant private fund AUM mainly comes from three directions: money from high-net-worth individuals and family offices migrating from discretionary equity; wealth capital batch-imported from the channel side; and institutional allocation pools and FOF, MOM funds. In addition, net value expansion brought by existing performance means that within the quant industry, capital is concentrating toward the top, which has become the main reason for the collective AUM expansion of quant private fund managers in this Q1.”

According to observations from this custodian, in recent years many clients have gradually moved money from discretionary private funds, public fund active equities, and their own stock-trading accounts into quant private fund areas. The reason is very practical: drawdown feelings are relatively more controllable; strategies are more “explainable” in the sense of being disciplined and systematized; and for some clients, it is easier to accept than a “style drift” from discretionary fund managers.

A medium-sized securities firm custodian also analyzed and pointed out that originally, money in bank wealth management, trust, and fixed-income plus products—if you take out only a small portion to allocate to quant, it’s not an all-at-once move; more often it looks like this: a client account used to be 100% conservative assets, and now they take 5% to 20% to seek enhanced returns. These funds per transaction are not that large, but because the base is big, the accumulation can still be quite substantial.

In addition, as many quant private fund practitioners have pointed out, the role of distribution channels’ support in recent years cannot be ignored.

A senior wealth management professional at a securities firm in Shanghai said that in the past few years, quant private funds have grown in scale largely because channels are now willing to sell—and are also easier to sell. This channel is not only brokerages; it also includes private banking, bank high-client segments, and third-party distribution channels. Besides performance that stands out, model design, factors, risk control, and diversification are all value-add items for clients when choosing. In terms of capacity, it can also absorb capital more effectively than some small-but-beautiful discretionary strategies.

In addition, some quant private fund practitioners remind that it’s not only the absolute growth scale that matters, but also the growth rate. If a manager’s scale increase is not significant—for example, only around 10%—the impact on strategies is relatively limited, and the company can usually handle it calmly. But if the scale increases too fast in a short period, it needs close tracking of how its subsequent excess returns change. Even if such companies have a smaller base and smaller absolute incremental amounts, overly fast inflows will test their technical reserves, talent reserves, strategy management capability, and the capacity of the overall investment research system. If management capability cannot keep up with the pace of scale expansion, excess returns may show a clear decline.

Chasing excess returns—also means serving

In the past few years, the competitive focus of quant private funds has almost entirely centered on the comparison of excess returns: whoever has higher excess returns and smaller drawdowns wins the favor of capital. However, as the industry scale expands rapidly and strategy homogeneity increases, quant private funds are putting increasing emphasis on “service attributes” such as product liquidity and investor education/communication.

Taking PanSong Asset as an example: on March 30, 2026, this hundred-billion quant private fund institution released an announcement that it adjusted the redemption reservation time for its long/short hedging and leveraged index enhancement series products—from the original T-5 trading days to T-2 trading days. The reservation period was shortened by 3 trading days, and liquidity improved significantly. For index enhancement products, small-amount funds can complete the redemption agreement by 14:30 on the same day, and net value confirmation is then carried out.

A person related to PanSong Asset told this reporter: “This adjustment was not sudden. We have been continuously optimizing our investment process. Now, our optimizer can plan redemption issues in a more precise way, so within the T-2 reservation period we can still do it without affecting leverage management and overall operations, maintaining consistency with the original operating logic. This can provide customers with a better liquidity experience.”

Beyond liquidity optimization, investor education and transparent communication have also become important directions for quant private funds to strengthen their services. As quant products become increasingly complex, investor education and transparent communication have become key links to maintain client trust. When market volatility rises, some managers proactively help clients understand the operating mechanisms and risk characteristics of quant strategies through strategy communication sessions and regular report interpretations—rather than relying solely on performance.

A quant private fund practitioner in Beijing believes that the competitive dimensions of quant private funds are broadening. Excess returns are certainly the foundation, but as the size of clients’ funds keeps growing, the difficulty of obtaining excess returns increases. Whoever can provide better liquidity, more transparent communication, and a smoother holding experience will win more long-term capital trust in the next stage.

(Disclaimer: The article’s content and data are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Investors act at their own risk.)

Reporter: Li Na

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