Hedge funds are strongly optimistic that they will see increased investor inflows over the next couple of years, according to new research from quant technology provider SigTech.

Emerging managers are in a buoyant mood looking ahead to the rest of 2022 – despite renewed market volatility and economic uncertainty underpinned by the war in Ukraine and rising inflation.

The alternative investment industry has witnessed the resurgence of global macro strategies and CTAs off the back of rising inflation – in the first quarter alone, CTAs generated performance-based gains of $27.8 billion, attracting $3.3 billion in net new capital, according to data from HFR. But with the current trajectory far from guaranteed, investors are advised to maintain a diversified portfolio in the hope of lessening the impact of future shocks.

Emerging managers have outperformed all hedge funds YTD, with data showing they outperformed hedge funds by 4.8% on average over the past three years, according to Hedgeweek’s latest Insight Report.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic upended the investment management, hedge fund, and financial services sectors, with firms quickly pivoting towards remote working and trading, investor and operational due diligence processes migrating to virtual settings, and industry participants describing the crisis as the ‘largest continuity test ever’ for business operations. More than two years on, as forms of hybrid working remain in place, the experience appears to have shifted the needle, bringing about the increased potential for a range of back-, middle-, and even front-office functions traditionally performed on-site to be made permanently remote. Appetite for outsourcing remains high, according

A survey by Hedgeweek in May shows that 82% of emerging managers (<$250m) cite attracting investor flows as the single biggest challenge for emerging and start-up managers during the initial launch process

Fund launch process hampered by rising volatility, allocator caution and capital-raising challenges – but emerging managers’ outlook stays buoyant

Over 80% of hedge fund start-ups say securing allocator capital is the biggest barrier they face, as new Hedgeweek research unearths a nervousness about the current capital raising environment.