Endowment numbers are in

The country’s largest university endowments are reporting the strongest returns since 2021, driven in large part by early exposure to SpaceX and other AI-linked companies.

The private aerospace company’s $1.76 trillion IPO in June, coupled with strong gains in public equities, locked in large one-year gains, according to data compiled for PitchBook’s university endowment return tracker, which tracks the returns of the 50 largest endowments in the US. Endowments that have reported so far posted an average return of 26.3%, more than double last year’s average total of 11.9%.

Returns have risen steadily since near-record lows in FY 2022 and 2023, a period that proved the worst in a decade for endowment performance.

The UNC Investment Fund, which manages the endowment of the University of North Carolina school system, produced the highest return reported so far this year at 37.8%. Half of this growth was driven by returns from early investments in VC funds that backed SpaceX, Stefan Strein, president of UNC Management Company, told its board of trustees in September. The fund manager first gained exposure to the company 17 years ago.

Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University and Stanford University also received a boost from their exposure to SpaceX.

“The success in venture this year has been pretty concentrated in a handful of companies, and unless you’ve got those companies, you’ve probably not enjoyed those types of returns,” said Tim Yates, president and CEO of Commonfund’s outsourced CIO business, which manages over $20 billion for nonprofit endowments, foundations, charities and healthcare systems.

This bonanza is especially welcome given the pressure endowments have come under during the second Trump administration. But they aren’t out of the woods yet.

Many of the largest endowments, such as Harvard and Yale, have upwards of 40% of their portfolios invested in private equity, an asset class that continues to struggle to return capital to LPs.

At the same time, private universities with large endowments are expecting tax increases to eat into these gains.

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in 2025, the tax rate on investment income for the largest endowments rises from 1.4% to 8% in FY 2027.

Harvard expects to pay roughly $300 million a year in tax as a result of the bill, according to its annual report. Its tax liability stood at $1.9 billion at the end of FY 2026, up from $317.4 million a year earlier.

MIT, Penn and Vanderbilt have booked liabilities of $1.04 billion, $366.6 million and $121.1 million for FY 2026.

“Strong returns do not diminish the tax’s long-term cost: the tax will redirect a meaningful share of investment gains that would otherwise support teaching, research, financial aid, and other purposes designated by donors,” wrote N.P. “Narv” Narvekar, the chief executive officer of Harvard Management Company, in his annual letter.

“More will be required of the endowment to sustain the same level of support for the University, heightening the importance of protecting the endowment’s purchasing power and of maintaining sufficient liquidity,” he added.

Yates also urges caution on putting too much weight on one-year numbers. Two identical portfolios can post very different returns depending on which quarter-end marks they use and the extent to which their private valuations lag, he said.

“Every year, I write a little blog talking about how meaningless the one-year numbers are,” he said. “And every year, I think I’m just talking to an empty closet or something.”

Blockchain revenue is on track for $100B in 2026, down 28% with digital asset prices. Revenue from institutions and the broader economy rose anyway. It reached 30% of the total, as it is less cyclical than other segments and has increased steadily.

Public companies earn 16% of the total, up from 7% in 2022. They range from Coinbase and Circle to Visa, banks and asset managers.

The 1kx Blockchain Revenue Report was released on October 29. It maps revenue by source and owner across 2,600+ protocols and 100+ public companies. Valuations are benchmarked against listed exchanges and brokers.

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New Jersey’s Pension Fund, which invests on behalf of seven of the state’s public pension systems, returned 14.82% for fiscal 2026. That is the third straight year of double-digit returns. Emerging markets equity led all asset classes, returning 39.5% for the one-year period. ➡️

Yale University’s endowment returned 26.3% net of fees for FY 2026. Its value grew to $54.5 billion after $2.2 billion in distributions. The fund’s 10-year annualized return stands at 11.7%. ➡️

VC secondary buyers only want one thing: exposure to the top 1% of VC-backed startups.

SpaceX and xAI alone accounted for 18% of trailing 12-month traded value on VC’s secondary market, and more than three-quarters of secondary trading value was concentrated in the top 20 startups in Q3 2026, according to PitchBook’s US VC Secondary Market Watch.