NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors poured $3.6 billion of fresh money into global hedge funds in the second quarter, data provider HFR said on Friday, helping boost industry wealth.

The HFR showed the industry raked in $12.64 billion in the first half of the year. The positive net money inflows so far this year came after investors pulled out $55.4 billion from the fund last year.

HFR said the capital went into large hedge funds managing more than $5 billion. Smaller companies experienced an outflow.

Equity hedge funds led the flow in the second quarter of the year, adding $2.8 billion in new money, followed by event-driven funds.

The past six years have been challenging for hedge funds, with outflows exceeding inflows for most of the period.

Hedge funds ended June with $3.95 trillion in assets, up 1.8% from March. HFR showed that growth was primarily driven by the fund’s performance in the second quarter.

The hedge fund grew an average of 2.15% last quarter and 3.4% in the first half of the year.