The total value of privately-offered funds in China stood at 12.78 trillion yuan (1.88 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of last year.

The figure was up 1.68 trillion yuan, or 15.12 percent, from the end of 2017, according to data from the Asset Management Association of China.

The number of private funds filed by authorities rose 12.38 percent to 74,642 by the end of last year.

At the end of December, the value of funds invested in securities shrank 1.02 percent from November to 2.24 trillion yuan partly due to the weak stock market.

The value of private equity funds, which invest in non-listed companies, edged up 0.35 percent from November to 7.71 trillion yuan by the end of December.

Meanwhile, the value of venture capital funds nudged up 1.16 percent from November to 890 billion yuan, according to the association.