Small-cap growth funds are natural choices for investors with a high-risk appetite when capital appreciation over the long term takes precedence over dividend payouts. These funds focus on realizing an appreciable amount of capital growth by investing in stocks projected to rise in value over the long term.

Moreover, small-cap funds are good choices for investors seeking diversification across different sectors and companies. These generally invest in companies with a market cap lower than $2 billion. The companies, smaller in size, offer growth potential, and their market capitalization may increase subsequently. Also, due to their lower international exposure, small-cap funds provide higher protection than their large- and mid-cap counterparts against any global downturn.

Below, we share with you three top-ranked small-cap growth mutual funds, namely Emerald GrowthHSPGX, T. Rowe Price Integrated US Small-Cap Growth EquityPRDSX and Goldman Sachs Small Cap Growth InsightsGSAOX. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.

Emerald Growthprimarily invests in U.S. and foreign equity securities, including common, preferred and convertible stocks, across industries and market caps, including small companies defined by the Russell 2000 Index.

Emerald Growth has a three-year annualized return of 23%. As of July 2025, HSPGX held 125 issues, with 3.1% of its assets invested in Credo Tech.

T. Rowe Price Integrated US Small-Cap Growth Equityprimarily invests in common stocks of U.S. small-cap growth companies. The fund considers small-cap growth companies to be those whose market capitalization at the time of purchase lies within the range of firms included in the MSCI US Small Cap Growth Index.        

T. Rowe Price Integrated US Small-Cap Growth Equity has three-year annualized returns of 14.7%. PRDSX has an expense ratio of 0.81%.

Goldman Sachs Small Cap Growth Insights primarily invests its net assets in a broadly diversified portfolio of equity securities issued by small-cap U.S. companies. In addition, GSOAX allocates a portion of its assets to fixed-income securities regarded as cash equivalents.

Goldman Sachs Small Cap Growth Insights has a three-year annualized return of 20%. Dennis Walsh has been one of the fund managers of GSAOX since March 2013.

To view the Zacks Rank and the past performance of all small-cap growth mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of small-cap growth mutual funds.