Ten years of growth by 342%, private equity fund size hits a new all-time high

According to 21st Century Business Herald on March 8, by the end of January 2026, the management scale of private equity funds has risen to 22.44 trillion yuan, marking the fourth consecutive month of record-breaking growth.

Compared to the total private equity scale of only 5.07 trillion yuan at the beginning of 2016, it has grown to 22.44 trillion yuan over ten years, an increase of 342.60%, with a net increase of over 17 trillion yuan. Among them, private equity and venture capital funds increased from 3.07 trillion yuan to 14.89 trillion yuan, an approximately 385% growth, becoming the “ballast” of the scale; private securities investment funds rose from 1.79 trillion yuan to 7.26 trillion yuan, a 306% increase. After September 2024, the growth rate accelerated significantly, with an increase of 2.25 trillion yuan in 16 months.

Gray Asset General Manager Zhang Kexing further pointed out that the private funds that have truly developed rapidly in the past three years are quantitative private funds, while purely subjective long-only securities private funds have grown relatively steadily. He analyzed that the reason why quantitative funds are recognized by investors is mainly because they perform well in volatile markets and have controllable drawdowns.

Data from Private Placement Network shows that the current number of private funds with assets of over 10 billion yuan has reached 126, an increase of 13 since the end of 2025. Among the 11 new private funds with over 10 billion yuan in 2026, Quantitative institutions such as Beiyang Quant, Shanghai Heji, Hongxi Fund, and Mingxi Capital are among the leaders.