When BlackRock acquired an infrastructure operator for $ 12.5 billion in the spring of 2025, analysts noted: this is not just a transaction, it is an investment in civilization. Today, a data center is the new land. It stores not only data but also the memory of generations. It houses the algorithms that shape our news, our music, our history.

In 2025, the global data center market exceeded $ 330 billion. Private investors are funding the construction of data hubs in Singapore, Dubai, and Frankfurt. In Russia, a local infrastructure for storing sovereign data is taking shape, and this trend is supported precisely by the new type of investors—those who understand that owning data today means owning society’s attention.

Philanthropy today lacks its former pomp. According to Giving USA, in 2024, donations in the United States totaled $ 592.5 billion. But the key lies not in the amount, but in the logic: an increasing number of donations are made anonymously or through targeted endowments.

Philanthropy is ceasing to be a stage; it is becoming part of long-term portfolio management. In Russia, this is reflected in the growth of university and museum endowments: in 2025, their number exceeded 60 for the first time.

Quiet force is not a rejection of luxury, but its new form. If legacy was once expressed through family crests, collections of jewels, and acts of patronage, today it resides in the infrastructure that shapes culture.

A data center instead of a castle. A university endowment instead of a chapel. A music catalog instead of a family collection. For the new generation of investors, legacy is not a statue, but a flow. And perhaps this is the most beautiful transformation of capital: money ceases to be a loud instrument of influence and becomes a quiet channel through which the culture of the future flows.

In Russia, private investments in real estate grew by 31% in the first quarter of 2025. The total volume of investments reached 99 billion rubles. And we are no longer talking only about classic offices and shopping centers.

Young investors prefer "urban hub" formats: buildings that combine offices, cultural spaces, restaurants, and exhibition halls. This is the philosophy of "slow property"—not just square meters, but architecture of experiences.

In Europe and the U.S., the trend is moving in the same direction. In London, demand is growing for buildings that combine private clubs, art spaces, and residences. In New York, investments are shifting toward "trophy real estate"—rare historical buildings that become symbols of entire neighborhoods.

Music catalogs have become one of the key assets of the new era. In 2024, transactions for music rights exceeded $ 3.5 billion, and the trend continues to gain momentum. This is understandable: songs are not only a commercial stream but also collective memory.

The sale of Queen’s catalog, negotiations for the catalogs of Taylor Swift and U2—these are just the tip of the iceberg. Today, family offices are investing in music as a "perpetual dividend." And this practice is gradually making its way to Russia: several deals for the rights to popular catalogs from the 1990s and 2000s were under discussion in early 2025.

At the dawn of capitalism, wealth was loud. It was measured in gold bars and kilometers of railway tracks, in the roar of factory chimneys and oil gushers. The 20th century added resounding symbols—skyscrapers, yachts, sports clubs. But in the 21st century, this spectacle is being replaced by a new aesthetic. It lacks bravado; its heroes rarely grace the covers of tabloids. Their influence does not shout—it quietly takes root in cities, digital networks, and cultural institutions. This is the "quiet force" of the new generation of investors: people who build capital not as instant success, but as a form of legacy.

Author: Anna Sazhina

According to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025, the number of people with assets exceeding $ 10 million has grown to 2.3 million—a 4.4% increase compared to the previous year. But behind the dry statistics lies a key shift: the age and values of investors are changing. The average profile of a private investor is noticeably younger—these are people aged 30−40, many of whom built their capital in technology, digital services, and new media. And importantly, they view money differently.

While billionaires of previous decades sought to immortalize themselves through buildings or collections, the new generation thinks in terms of "ecosystems." For them, it is crucial that investments not only generate returns but also shape the habits of the future—whether in digital infrastructure, cultural spaces, or sustainable consumption models.

For the first time, the role of female investors has grown so significantly: in Russia, according to analysts, nearly half of all new private investors in commercial real estate are women, with an average age of 36. For the global wealth management industry, this is nothing short of a revolution.

But "quiet force" manifests not only in concrete and servers. One of the rapidly growing sectors has become the esports and metaverse industry. In 2025, the global esports market reached nearly $ 5.2 billion, with an audience exceeding 650 million people.

For investors, this is no longer a "plaything" but a new theater where the attention of Generations Z and Alpha is being captured. In Russia, exclusive investment clubs are emerging, investing in esports arenas and metaverse platforms for business communication. The idea is for capital to be present where emotions are born and the cultural code of a new era is being shaped.

The art market is undergoing its own transformation. After its turnover fell to $ 57.5 billion in 2024, many expected stagnation. But "quiet force" has redefined the rules: investors have ceased to view art as a tool for quick speculation.

The main trend now is art funds in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which invest not only in painting but also in digital art, archives, and museum residencies. One of the most notable cases of 2025 is the creation of the Art Future Endowment Fund in Dubai: $ 250 million aimed at supporting young artists from the Middle East and Asia.

A shift is also noticeable in Russia. Moscow’s private collectors are increasingly establishing their own galleries or supporting university departments, turning collecting into a social contract.