Key Takeaways
- • Global infrastructure fundraising reached a record $200 billion in 2025, exceeding the previous peak of $180 billion in 2022, driven by a cumulative $106 trillion investment requirement through 2040.
- • Infrastructure is the fastest-growing private-market asset class, expanding at a 9 percent compound annual growth rate (2020–2025) while other private-market categories declined 3–5 percent over the same period.
- • Infrastructure fundraising surged 58.2 percent year-over-year from 2024 to 2025, gaining significant share within a total private-markets fundraising base that fell 5 percent to just over $1.1 trillion.
- • Limited partners are increasingly incorporating infrastructure into core investment strategies, reflecting confidence in long-term infrastructure demand and the asset class's defensive characteristics in a shifting macroeconomic environment.
Summary
Private capital is emerging as the primary vehicle for closing a global infrastructure investment gap, with 2025 marking a significant inflection point for the asset class. According to McKinsey & Company analysis by Adrian Kwok, Alastair Green, Connor Mangan, and coauthors, the world requires a cumulative $106 trillion in infrastructure investments through 2040 to meet global requirements. This mandate is being substantially addressed by private capital, which raised nearly $200 billion globally in 2025—a record that surpasses the previous cycle high of $180 billion achieved in 2022.
The growth trajectory of infrastructure capital is particularly striking when measured against broader private-markets trends. While total private-market fundraising declined approximately 5 percent year-over-year and has contracted at a negative rate since 2020, infrastructure fundraising has remained resilient, expanding at a 9.2 percent compound annual growth rate over the five-year period. Most dramatically, infrastructure fundraising accelerated 58.2 percent from 2024 to 2025, indicating substantial momentum and institutional conviction in the sector. This performance contrasts sharply with other asset classes including private equity, real estate, and private debt, which have experienced meaningful declines in recent fundraising activity.
The structural shift toward infrastructure reflects a fundamental reallocation of limited partner capital. Institutional investors—including pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds—are increasingly embedding infrastructure allocations within their core investment mandates rather than treating the asset class as opportunistic or peripheral. This represents a qualitative change in how sophisticated capital allocators perceive infrastructure's role in diversified portfolios, driven by long-term return expectations, relative stability, and inflation-hedging characteristics. McKinsey's research notes this rebalancing is part of a broader recognition that infrastructure assets can support global economic growth objectives while generating sustainable returns aligned with LP time horizons and liability profiles.
The growth trajectory of infrastructure capital is particularly striking when measured against broader private-markets trends. While total private-market fundraising declined approximately 5 percent year-over-year and has contracted at a negative rate since 2020, infrastructure fundraising has remained resilient, expanding at a 9.2 percent compound annual growth rate over the five-year period. Most dramatically, infrastructure fundraising accelerated 58.2 percent from 2024 to 2025, indicating substantial momentum and institutional conviction in the sector. This performance contrasts sharply with other asset classes including private equity, real estate, and private debt, which have experienced meaningful declines in recent fundraising activity.
The structural shift toward infrastructure reflects a fundamental reallocation of limited partner capital. Institutional investors—including pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds—are increasingly embedding infrastructure allocations within their core investment mandates rather than treating the asset class as opportunistic or peripheral. This represents a qualitative change in how sophisticated capital allocators perceive infrastructure's role in diversified portfolios, driven by long-term return expectations, relative stability, and inflation-hedging characteristics. McKinsey's research notes this rebalancing is part of a broader recognition that infrastructure assets can support global economic growth objectives while generating sustainable returns aligned with LP time horizons and liability profiles.
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