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It’s time for our annual look at the previous year’s SEC new Form D filings and the headline is that those on the capital raising trail for new hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds and ‘other’ investment funds had a good year, with both the number of filings and the total aggregate sale value increasing significantly compared to 2024.
 

Table 1: Number of Filings by Form D Category, 2025 vs 2024

Table 2: Aggregate Total Amount Sold by Form D Category, 2025 vs 2024, $bns

*Other represents Form D funds that weren't marked as pooled investment funds in Section 4 of the Form D document

Clearly, 2025 was a good news story for the hedge fund industry, a welcome return to form. Indeed, the space has just posted its best annual return since 2009, with the HFR Fund Weighted Composite Index delivering a +12.64% return last year. But the two previous years were also solid, so allocators have clearly got more confident about the prospects for sustained double digit returns as they deployed capital in 2025 at levels more than twice those seen in 2024.

Every category was up, though. Private equity funds raised the most money in total, which is to be expected, but they’re going to need it, as dealmaking in the space in 2025 was the second best year on record and plenty more is expected to happen this year.

Indeed, the space had 16 of the top 20 new Form D filings last year, and while that number has dropped to ten in 2025, private equity remains the more frequent category seen in the top ten as can be seen in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Top Twenty New Form D Filings, Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025, by Total Amount Sold

Something we mentioned last year is the number of funds with a $0 in the sales box when they file their Form D. 5884 of these funds – a little less than a third of the total – filed their new Form D with zero sales. So again, there should be some growth in the aggregate sales amount of 2025’s cohort of new funds in the coming 12-24 months.

So, to conclude, an excellent year for new private funds in the US. Sure, there is the same old story about larger firms gobbling up more of the assets, but there is clearly plenty of appetite for products across all categories from investors.

What will 2026 bring? We can’t be sure, of course, but the three interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve between September and December last year will likely help those pounding the pavement asking investors for a check. 

But for bulls like us, it’s good to see all categories delivering solid growth. A rising tide lifts all boats, after all, and provides more choice for investors.

Happy New Year! 
 

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