Despite a trough in fundraising last year, 72% of global private equity fund managers “expect inflows to rise in 2025, with 44% anticipating a significant increase,” according to a Carne Group survey released on Tuesday.
Fund executives were optimistic that they could tap investors in new geographic areas, the firm found.
More than 4,400 private equity funds launched last year, bringing the global total to 43,137, with $11.6 trillion (€9.98 trillion) in assets under management at the end of 2024, according to Preqin, a private market fund data provider.
“Fundraising has taken a hit, with the total capital raised in private equity slipping to $751 billion (€644 billion) in 2024, down from its most recent peak of $1.152 trillion in 2021,” the Carne report noted.
A majority of private equity fund executives – 16 out of the 25 polled – said they expected to raise 10-25% more money in 2025 than they did in 2024.
“Private equity fund managers also told us overseas markets were an untapped opportunity, with 84% saying they will focus more on foreign markets – particularly the US – to raise new capital,” the Carne report said.
Infrastructure fund managers said artificial intelligence would add the most value to their business in the fields of “idea generation” and “data analysis”.
Carne Group is a management company, meaning it handles administrative, operational and compliance tasks on behalf of asset managers. It reported having 650 clients globally, representing more than $2 trillion (€1.7 trillion) in assets under management. The company says it has more than 600 employees worldwide, including 160 in Luxembourg.
The poll was conducted online in January 2025 on behalf of Carne by Pureprofile, a market research outfit, with additional research carried out in August 2025. Pureprofile interviewed 25 senior executives – such as CEOs, CIOs, COOs and CFOs – working for global private equity fund managers, with a collective total of $245 billion (€210 billion) in assets under management.
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The global private equity report followed Carne’s poll of European infrastructure fund executives and poll of European private debt fund executives, both published in September.
