Dutch Alternative Investment Industry: Key Insights from the AIFMD Light Manager Survey 2025 

The Dutch alternative investment industry is going through a critical juncture in its steadily growth path, as revealed in the AIFMD Light Manager Survey 2025 report conducted by Fund Survey, an initiative by fundbuddy, LeadingMile, and Van Campen Liem. 

This report offers insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by fund managers in navigating the evolving regulatory and operational landscape. Building on the perspectives of 50 Dutch alternative investment managers, acting under the “AIFMD light manager regime”, the survey identifies significant trends, likely to shape the sector further. Fund managers have the ambition to scale their operations and increase fund sizes, reflecting a robust growth trajectory. However, the survey also underscores challenges that could impede this growth, such as: an uneven level of technology adoption, focus on investing in the front-office rather than back-office and lower confidence in complying with new regulatory and tax authority reporting requirements.  

Key findings from the survey include: 

  • 78% of the participating fund managers are raising funds in the next 12 months, with 46% targeting €50–250 million.  
  • 32% of the respondents are not using any specific technology solutions for its fund administration, fund reporting and onboarding/KYC processing with only 10% using a dedicated process automation tool for KYC. 
  • Fund managers are focusing their investments on strengthening their portfolio management, investor reporting and systems and technology. 
  • The top area for fund managers planning to hire new employees over the next 12 months is in their investment management team and, are least likely to hire IT and system management personnel. 

Opportunities and growth expected 

Our report highlights opportunities and challenges for the wider industry. Through certain initiatives, fund managers can foster a more resilient and competitive industry, with significant growth of committed capital expected, our survey confirms that fund managers are likely to bolster their investment management teams and portfolio management & deal flow processes. Fund service providers are uniquely positioned to address the need of combining this with efficient fund operations and sound administration on the back end of their organization. By offering flexible solutions in fund administration, compliance and investor services, supported by automation and dedicated system solutions they can help managers navigate growth challenges effectively.  

Participants in the survey will receive a personalized report comparing their responses to peer benchmarks. These individual reports, alongside the overall findings, aim to empower managers with actionable insights to strengthen their strategic planning and operational efficiency, as well as provide general insights into the market. If you are interested in our findings, the full report is available for download here: https://www.leadingmile.com/fund-survey-report-2025/ 

To further disseminate these insights and facilitate an open setting where they can be covered, Fund Survey is hosting our AIFMD light manager event in the coming months. This event will bring together industry leaders to discuss the trends surfaced in our survey and explore solutions to the challenges identified. 

“We are immensely grateful to all the participants whose invaluable insights contribute to shaping the future of Dutch alternative investments,” said Remko Dieker, founder of fundbuddy. “By working together, we can address the challenges of the industry head-on and improve the efficiency and growth readiness of the fund managers’ organizations and fund operations. Fund managers realize that the leap towards overall improvement is feasible if taken one step at a time. They are not alone in their journey”.