Q1 Quantitative private equity fund size achieves "leapfrog" growth

Ask AI · The surge in the scale of quantitative private funds—what forces of capital are behind it?

Every day, the reporter: Li Na    Every day, the editor: Ye Feng

In the first quarter of 2026, the quantitative private fund industry is staging a hard-core leap: four firms—Huanfang Quant, Jiukun Investment, Mingrun Investment, and Yanfu Investment—entered the 80 billion to 90 billion yuan range. They are no longer far from the 100 billion yuan threshold; and many other institutions, including Mingshi Fund, Qianxiang Investment, Longqi Technology, and others, have also leaped across two to three tiers at once, with an intense “reshuffling” of the tier ladder.

External capital is rushing in crazily. The combined force of three drivers—repeat purchases by old clients, channel support, and institutional allocations—has quickly pushed up the scale of quantitative private funds.

At the same time, the industry’s competitive logic has changed: outperforming only with excess returns is no longer enough, and service capabilities are becoming the new winning point.

Is a 100-billion-yuan “big firm” coming?

How fast are quantitative private fund managers expanding?

From the AUM (assets under management) map released under “Quantitative Investing and Machine Learning,” in the first quarter of 2026, among domestic quantitative private fund managers, liquidity has noticeably strengthened across different tiers; the “threshold” for the leading camp continues to rise.

In the top tier, there are already four firms—Huanfang Quant, Jiukun Investment, Mingrun Investment, and Yanfu Investment—tied in the 80 billion to 90 billion yuan range, just one step away from becoming a 100-billion-yuan “big firm.” And as of the end of 2025, these four were still in the 70 billion to 80 billion yuan range. Chengqi Fund entered the 60 billion to 70 billion yuan range; Blackwing Assets and Wanyan Assets were added to the 50 billion to 60 billion yuan range; Maoyuan Quant and Tanyan Capital entered the 40 billion to 50 billion yuan range; and in the 30 billion to 40 billion yuan range, Evolutionary Logic Assets joined.

The mid-size tier has also shifted upward across the board: in the 20 billion to 30 billion yuan range, new additions include Mengxi Investment, Nian Kong Nian Jue, Turing Fund, Zhengding Private Investment, and Zhuoshi Fund; in the 15 billion to 20 billion yuan range, new additions include Beiyang Quant, Jinge Qingrui, Nuda Investment, and Weike Bo Yi.

Meanwhile, eight managers—including Ban Yang Private, Hongxi Fund, Kui Private, Luoshu Investment, Mingshi Capital, Shenye Investment, Totte Investment, and Youmeili Investment—each surpassed 10 billion yuan and entered the 10 billion to 15 billion yuan queue. Hanrong Investment, Huishi Assets, Liying Investment, and Shengfeng Fund then entered the 5 billion to 10 billion yuan queue.

Most striking is the “jump across levels” phenomenon of some managers. They are not rising step by step in an orderly fashion; instead, within a single quarter, they cross two and even three size ranges. At the end of 2025, Mingshi Fund, whose assets under management were still in the 20 billion to 30 billion yuan range, jumped three tiers in one leap—directly moving into the 50 billion to 60 billion yuan queue—becoming the case with the largest quarter-to-quarter spread. Qianxiang Investment and Zhengying Assets jumped two tiers into the 20 billion to 30 billion yuan range; Pingfang Investment jumped two tiers into the 30 billion to 40 billion yuan range; and Longqi Technology jumped two tiers into the 50 billion to 60 billion yuan range.

There is no doubt that these managers’ rapid advancement shows that the pace at which capital is concentrating toward the quantitative industry’s top players is accelerating, and the internal tier “reshuffling” is becoming increasingly fierce.

Which capital is flooding into quant?

The rapid jump in the size of quantitative private funds in the first quarter is not driven solely by net value gains. Multiple quantitative private fund practitioners interviewed and heads of securities firm custody businesses all said that sustained net inflows of external capital are the core driving force behind this round of expansion, and the capital structure also shows clear seasonality and a trend toward institutionalization.

Previously, according to statistics from Mingshi Fund’s ranking platform, as of February 28, 2026, across the whole market there were 722 private fund firms with a total of 1,366 registered private securities products, up 151.57% from 543 in February 2025. Compared with January 2026’s 680, it increased by 100.88% month-on-month, achieving a doubling on both year-on-year and month-on-month bases.

“Every year in the first quarter—especially after the Spring Festival—is a good time for quantitative private fund scale expansion,” a person in charge of the quantitative private fund market told the reporter. “In the second and third quarters, the funding environment is relatively flat. In the fourth quarter, clients often redeem. But in the first quarter, after clients get their year-end bonuses, their willingness to add subscriptions is strongest. Plus, our overall performance was good last year, so clients’ trust is relatively high, and repeat purchases happen quickly.”

Some related persons at hundred-billion-yuan quantitative private fund firms said: “We mainly do direct sales, so existing clients subscribe more. There’s also institutional money—especially cooperation with brokerages’ asset management units on FOFs (funds of funds), which is also relatively more common.”

A securities firm custody person told the reporter: “We observe that the external capital driving the rapid expansion of quantitative private fund scale mainly comes from three directions: money from high-net-worth individuals and family offices migrating from discretionary equity; wealth capital batch-imported through channel partners; and institutional allocation pools and FOFs and MOMs (manager-of-managers) funds.”

Based on this custody person’s observation, in recent years many clients have been gradually moving money from discretionary private placements, publicly offered active equity funds, and even their own stock trading accounts into the quantitative private fund space. The reasons are very practical: drawdown feelings are relatively more controllable; the strategies are more “explainable” as disciplined and systematic; and for some clients, it’s easier to accept than a discretionary fund manager’s “style drift.”

A custody person at a mid-sized securities firm analyzed that the money originally in bank wealth management products, trusts, and fixed-income+ categories—if customers take out a small portion to allocate to quant, it’s not an entire relocation. More often, it looks like this: a client account previously had 100% in conservative assets, and now they use 5%~20% to enhance returns. For this kind of money, each single ticket isn’t outrageous, but the base is large, so the accumulated amount can be substantial.

In addition, as many quantitative private fund practitioners have pointed out, the help of distribution channels cannot be ignored in recent years.

A senior wealth management professional at a securities firm in Shanghai said: “In recent years, as the scale of quantitative private funds grows, one very key reason is that channels have started to be willing to sell—and it’s also easier to sell. This channel is not only securities firms; it also includes private banking, high-net-worth segments within banks, and third-party distribution channels. Besides performance support, things like models, factors, risk control, and diversification are also value-added points when clients choose. In terms of capacity, it can also absorb capital better than some small-but-nice discretionary strategies.”

Some quantitative 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 isn’t large—for example, only around 10%—the impact on the strategy is relatively limited, and the company can usually handle it calmly. But if the scale increases too quickly in a short period of time, it is necessary to closely track the trend of its subsequent excess returns. Even if the company’s base is smaller and the absolute incremental amount isn’t large, an overly rapid inflow of funds will test its technical reserves, talent reserves, strategy management capabilities, and the carrying capacity of its overall investment research and portfolio management system. Once management capability can’t keep up with the pace of scale expansion, excess returns may show a clear decline.

Competition is broadening across more dimensions

In the past few years, the competitive focus among quantitative private funds has been almost entirely on the contest of excess returns: whoever has higher excess returns and smaller drawdowns wins the favor of investors. However, as the industry’s scale is expanding rapidly and the homogeneity of strategies has increased, quantitative private funds are placing increasing importance on “service attributes” such as product liquidity and investor education and communication.

Taking Pansong Assets as an example: on March 30, 2026, this hundred-billion-yuan quantitative private fund firm issued an announcement adjusting 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 the index enhancement products, small-ticket funds can complete the redemption agreement on the same day before 14:30, enabling net asset value confirmation.

A person related to Pansong Assets told the Every day (Daily) reporter: “This adjustment isn’t sudden. We have been continuously optimizing our investment process. Currently, our optimizer can plan redemption issues more precisely, so that within the T-2 reservation period, we can still achieve no impact on the product’s leverage management and overall operations, keeping consistent with the original operational logic. This allows customers to experience better liquidity.”

Beyond liquidity optimization, investor education and transparent communication have also become key directions for quantitative private funds to enhance their services. As quantitative products become increasingly complex, investor education and transparent communication have become a crucial link in maintaining customer trust. When the market fluctuates, some managers proactively help clients understand how quantitative strategies work and their risk characteristics through strategy communication sessions and periodic report interpretations, rather than relying only on performance.

A quantitative private fund practitioner in Beijing believes that competition among quantitative private funds is broadening. Excess returns are of course the foundation, but with customer capital volumes steadily increasing, the difficulty of generating excess returns also rises. Whichever can provide better liquidity, more transparent communication, and a smoother holding experience will win more long-term capital trust in the next stage.

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