Update on the University of California’s $200B+ Portfolio

This week, we’ll revisit the University of California’s portfolio, which we last profiled nearly two years ago. As of 9/30/25, UC Investments managed $209 billion on behalf of the University of California. The majority of that is held by the UC Retirement Plan ($163B), with the remaining assets in the endowment ($32B) and a working capital pool ($13B). The larger UC Schools (UCLA, Berkeley, and UCSF) manage some endowment assets via in-house foundations, while the smaller campuses are almost entirely managed by UC Investments:

We noted in our last update that UC was shifting into passive investments, and that has continued over the last two years, with 90% of the $82B public equity portfolio now in index funds:

Active public managers remaining on UC’s roster include Kotak India, Impactive, Incentive AS, and Ward Ferry, most of which have been decreasing over time, implying ongoing redemptions.

On the private side, CIO Jagdeep Singh Bachher noted during the investment committee’s November 2025 meeting that they have been very cautious about putting money to work in private assets. In his words, “we like private assets for diversification, but we certainly don’t drink the Kool-Aid.” Today, 19% of the university’s portfolio is in private assets. The team only made one new commitment in 2025, following one in 2023 and zero in 2024, leveling off after meaningful growth in prior years:

UC’s only private commitment in 2025 was Collide Capital II. The university previously invested in Collide Capital I in 2022 as a notable backer of the newly launched firm. Collide, with $66 million in AUM, is led by Aaron Samuels (ex-Bain, Stanford MBA) and Brian Hollins (ex-Lightspeed and Goldman Sachs, Harvard MBA).

Collide focuses on supporting diverse founders and has backed 50 companies to date, more than 80% of which have Black, Latino, or female founders. Our data shows the George Kaiser Family Foundation as another notable LP in Collide, and media reports include Amazon, Alphabet, Twitter, Bank of America, and Citi as additional backers of Fund I.

Other News/Events

• Two Sigma raises $1.1bn across new funds as assets hit record $70bn

• Biotech rally mints huge profits for hedge funds

• Sequoia Doesn’t Want a ‘King’ to Run Its $9 Billion Hedge Fund

• Abu Dhabi’s Hedge Fund Island Plans $16 Billion Expansion

• $50 billion Tiger Global is returning to its concentrated, 'high-conviction' roots in its latest private fund

• Nvidia v. Google, Scaling Laws, and the Economics of AI

• Wash U Reports 14.7% FY Return

• University of Florida Foundation records 12.1% return for fiscal year

• University at Buffalo Foundation returns 10.7% for fiscal year

• Georgia Tech Foundation posts 11.1% return for fiscal year

About Old Well Labs

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