One of the top performing Aussie equity funds of '25 returned 90% - what was it?

Plenty of ink has already been spilled describing what a wild and unique investing year 2025 was, so I’ll save you the trouble of backing over it again.

Worth noting about the list below is that the top-performing funds in our database – like the market more broadly - are highly concentrated: small and micro-cap funds dominate, occupying eight of the top 10 spots.

Given the strength of materials over the past 12 months, one might reasonably assume that the funds featured below were heavily overweight that sector. But that is not necessarily the case. Looking at their latest fund updates, most of them were underweight materials. 

So, what drove outperformance? As trite as it might sound, it was stockpicking. 

Yes, the commodities rally helped, but picking the right stocks in that space mattered more. More specifically, you needed gold names. Explorer, developer, producer - that didn't matter so much. Pantoro (ASX: PNR) was up 220%, Predcitive Discovery (ASX: PDI) was up 220%, Resolute Mining (ASX: RSG) was up 206%, and Southern Cross Gold (ASX: SX2) was up 204%. 

Broadly speaking, a more important driver was that small caps finally caught a bid after a long period of underperformance and outpaced their large-cap counterparts. Even then, stockpicking still mattered - there was plenty of rubbish in small-cap land that didn't fire, despite the backdrop. 

Holding names such as DroneShield (ASX: DRO) (+300%) and Stealth Group (+220%), and other names such as Plenti Group (PLG) and Qoria (ASX: QOR) at the right time would also have helped. 

All of that said, it was a pure-play resources fund that took the top-performing crown. Keep reading to find out which fund was top of the pops. 

How we compiled these lists

Our performance data is sourced from Morningstar, and the funds listed are available on Livewire’s Find Funds menu (located in the top-right corner of the webpage). Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all Australian equity funds available in the market.

Here’s how we filtered the results:

• Fund Type: Managed Fund
• Asset Class: Shares – Australian

We then manually refined the list based on 1-year returns.

NOTE: While it is an interesting exercise to examine fund performance over a one-year period, most funds recommend minimum investment periods of five years or more. As such, it would be worthwhile to consider longer-term performance across cycles when researching funds or making investment decisions. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future return.

10 top-performing Australian Equity Funds in CY25

#1. Acorn Capital NextGen Resources Fund

Rick Squire runs a diverse portfolio of small and emerging companies that focuses on commodities being positively impacted by global disruptions, such as the clean-energy transition. Rick is an ex-geologist with the technical and financial skills that are essential for investing in this universe. The fund objective is to exceed the returns of the S&P/ASX Small Resources Accumulation Index (XSRAI) benchmark over rolling 3-year periods. Squire was last featured on Livewire in the article below, back in June 2024. But fear not, we'll be speaking with Squire shortly for an upcoming commodities series. 

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The Goldilocks zone for resource exploration (and four ASX companies nailing it)

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Top 5 holdings (as at November 2025)

• Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL)
• Capricorn Metals (ASX: CMM)
  
• Golden Horse Minerals (ASX: GHM)
• Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN)
• PLS Group (ASX: PLS)

#2. Datt Capital Small Companies Fund

The Datt Small Companies Fund, run by Emanuel Datt, focuses on high-quality, undervalued companies outside the ASX100 with strong fundamentals and long-term growth potential. He applies a disciplined, bottom-up research process to identify scalable businesses that are often underappreciated or less efficiently covered by the broader market. The aim is to invest in Ex-ASX100 companies and outperform the XSOA by 5% p.a. over 5 years. Datt is a regular contributor to Livewire and was featured in our Meet the Manager series in September. 

Funds

Gold’s surge and market whiplash favour the patient

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#3. L1 Capital Long Short Fund – Wholesale

The L1 Capital Long Short Fund, managed by L1 Capital founders Raphael Lamm and Mark Landau, is an absolute-return fund that offers investors a highly diversified portfolio of long and short positions based on rigorous fundamental research. The fund aims for strong, positive, risk-adjusted returns whilst preserving shareholder capital in falling markets. In late 2024, the fund turned 10 years old, and Livewire wrote the following feature to mark the occasion. 

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Decade of excellence: 10 years of outstanding performance for L1 Capital’s Long Short Fund

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#4. Tyndall Australian Small Companies Fund

The Tyndall Australian Small Companies Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of Australian small-cap companies that it believes are undervalued and will provide consistent risk-adjusted returns with strong capital growth. The fund can hold anywhere from 25 to 70 positions, and the benchmark is the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index. The fund is managed by James Nguyen and Tim Johnston, the former of whom participated in a series of Buy Hold Sell episodes late last year. 

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Buy Hold Sell: The hottest ASX small caps right now (and 2 on the rise)

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#5. Ophir Opportunities Fund

The Ophir Opportunities Fund is a long-only, small-cap Australian equities fund. The fund typically invests in 30-50 companies listed outside of the S&P/ASX 100. Utilising Ophir’s extensive fundamental, bottom-up research process, the fund focuses on identifying high-quality emerging businesses exposed to structural growth opportunities. The fund is managed by Andrew Mitchell & Steven Ng. Andrew spoke with Livewire in November last year. 

Equities

In a market full of contradictions, Ophir continues to find success

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