Private capital’s big push for private wealth. Plus: advising ‘big brand’ asset managers, specialists, and first-time funds

Welcome to the weekly round-up of highlights from our free daily Preqin First Close newsletter, your go-to guide to the global alternatives industry. I’m Jayda Etienne, Deputy Editor, and every Friday I select exclusive news and insights from over the past week.        

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Let’s kick things off with some trivia – Earlier this week, Saudi-owned mobile games company Scopely announced it’s buying the games development business of San Francisco-based Niantic for $3.5bn, including Pokémon GO. The Japanese franchise originated as a video game, and has since spawned into films, animated series, and trading cards. How many active Pokémon GO players are there?

a) 1.2 million

b) 1.6 million

c) 1.9 million

d) 2.3 million

Find the answer at the end of the newsletter.

Private wealth will account for 25% of private capital AUM expansion to 2033

If private markets are going to continue to grow, as Preqin has forecast, where will new capital come from?

The simple answer is more from all sources currently investing.

In the 2025 Global Private Equity Report by Bain & Company , the management consultancy predicts institutional investors will provide most of the expansion in investment, accounting for 75% of the increase in AUM between now and 2033. It forecasts sovereign wealth funds will account for 35% of the total growth, with SWF exposure growing by 11% annually over the next decade, to $17tn.

A quarter of AUM growth will come from private wealth, including high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, as well as the mass affluent.

There was a notable increase in activity across alternative assets in 2024, according to Preqin data. Private equity and real estate remain the biggest strategies for private wealth investors, with the proportion telling our research teams they’re active in the asset class rising from 70% in 2023 to 78% last year for private equity, and from 68% to 74% for real estate.

Private debt has been the center of attention, with 42% of private wealth investors active in the asset class in 2024.

Asset managers who moved early to attract private wealth are reaping the rewards. Blackstone , which started its push 14 years ago, has said it saw $23bn flow into its semi-liquid products last year, accounting for 20% of total inflows.

Some other big GPs were late to the party but are now making up for lost time. Apollo Global Management, Inc. launched its wealth solutions business in 2021, and last year raised $12bn via the channel. It plans to double the size of its wealth management team.

These new investor pools require a holistic approach, encompassing education, distribution, and portfolio management. Apollo has partnered with investment platform iCapital to launch Apollo Allocation Pro.

‘People need tools. They need to be able to build portfolios. You need to be thinking about it at the outset, not an add-on or separate allocation,’ Lawrence Calcano , Chairman and CEO of iCapital, tells Preqin.

As Bain & Company point out: ‘The requirements to tap that growth will likely look very different from what most GPs are doing today.’

By Grant Murgatroyd , Head of News and Newsletters.

The role of fund advisors has become more strategic

The role of fund advisory firms – traditionally known as placement agents – has changed significantly over the past decade. It’s now much more strategic.   

This is in part because of increasing sophistication and competition in private capital. And in part because of the fast-changing, widely varying market conditions before and during the pandemic, the 2021–2022 boom, and the challenging fundraising environment since.   

In our new Preqin First Close Q&A,  Gabrielle Joseph, Head of Client Development at Rede Partners, tells us about first-time funds and emerging managers. The firm advises ‘big brand’ asset managers, specialist private capital funds, and debut vehicles.   

The role still involves crucial work with GPs to research, due diligence, pitch, and negotiate with potential LPs. But it’s also about precision targeting of fund strategies and building private capital businesses tailored to capture market opportunities, explains Gabrielle. 

Get the full story by Shaun Beaney .

a) 1.2 million

According to ActivePlayer, as of February 4, 2025, the average number of active Pokémon Go players for the past thirty days is 115,162,337. It continues to be one of the most successful live service games on the market, peaking at 232 million active players in 2016.

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