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- Why Millennium is the most influential investor of 2024
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Millennium, one of the hedge fund industry’s biggest firms, has emerged as the most influential industry allocator of 2024 in AFI’s inaugural Power25 ranking.
Multiple and substantial external allocations to other hedge funds mean it has been the chief source of industry capital — and the trend is set to continue given its remarkable $10bn fundraise earlier this year.
Twenty of the Power25 are end-investors, conventional allocators like pension plans and sovereign wealth funds, who have been particularly active or influential in 2025 (a full methodology is below).
But Millennium, one of two multi-manager (or “pod-shop”) platforms to make the ranking, is top for its influence in terms of the sheer amount of capital it has committed, to new and existing firms, and as a driver of new industry trends, like increased use of separately managed accounts.
The rest of the Top Ten (click their names to access profiles):
2. Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing, the world’s largest discretionary investor in hedge funds, with $83bn committed midyear, continued to be active. Rebranded from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM).
3. The newly-created Mastercard Foundation Asset Management Corporation looks set to be the biggest provider of fresh capital into hedge funds in the years ahead.
4. Qube Research & Technologies expanded again in 2024 — and is one of the main users of external allocations to broaden its strategy mix.
5. Texas Teacher Retirement System (TRS) made waves earlier this year by leading a new campaign calling on hedge funds to implement cash hurdles in incentive fees.
6. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one of the world’s leading hedge fund allocators, also running an influential emerging manager program.
7. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) launched a managed account platform and onboarded the first cohort of existing managers this year, reflecting the industry shift towards more use of the structures.
8. State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), the $156bn pool, with a history dating back to 1951, has been a leading performer and innovator in the hedge fund space.
9. Albourne Partners, the only consultant to make the top ten, is an operational due diligence specialist with 340 clients, responsible for more than $700bn in alts. NEPC is the other consultant in the Power25 and PivotalPath the only research firm.
10. 2025 looks set to be a key year for JP Morgan Asset Management, a long-term backer of the hedge fund space, after its asset management and private banking units combined, in part to drive a renewed effort in alternatives.
Subscribers can access the Top Ten allocator profiles at the links above and the full Power25 ranking here.
The influential allocator ranking reflects the changing shape of the industry, with multi-PM firms attracting allocations and then increasingly recycling that capital through the rest of the industry.
Some allocators are now trying their own versions of multi-manager or partnering, as have State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), with programs like Walleye Capital’s Dockside initiative. Other Power25 firms have also been active in this area.
The list has several North American pension plans and endowments, and even a family office. Institutions are still a key funder of the industry (as of February 2024, almost $1.3trn is invested in hedge funds across the US by pensions, university endowments and nonprofit foundations, according to Preqin).
Of that total, US pensions invest approximately $618bn in hedge funds; more than 300 colleges and universities invest approximately $141bn; and more than 1,000 nonprofit and charitable foundations invest approximately $545bn.
New York, which features in the Power25, is the biggest individual state by hedge fund allocations across the three investor types, at $136.8bn. Virgina Retirement System was the biggest institutional investor in hedge fund in 2023, according to Dakota.
Power25 Methodology
The size and number of hedge fund allocations is a significant, but not sole, factor. The groups allocating the most will inevitably rank higher, in general terms, than smaller investors. But size does not tell the whole story. This list has been compiled based on AFI’s assessment of the levels of innovation, interest and intent among alternative allocators. The 25 members of the Power List vary by type, from public and private pension funds to sovereign wealth funds and endowments, institutions and family offices; by recent activity, from CalPERS, out of hedge funds for almost a decade but mulling a return, to Blackstone, the biggest allocator out there; and by size, with some of the smallest allocators having the biggest impact. There are even five non-end-investors: two multi-managers, two consultants and a research firm.
Detail on US allocations used in pie chart and table taken from Managed Funds Association campaign based on Preqin data, and Dakota, respectively.