Equity funds are considered to be the more risky funds as compared to other fund types, but they also provide higher returns than other funds. It is advisable that an investor looking to invest in an equity fund should invest for long term i.e. for 3 years or more. There are different types of equity funds each falling into different risk bracket. In the order of decreasing risk level, there are following types of equity funds:

1.Aggressive Growth Funds: In Aggressive Growth Funds, fund manager aspire for maximum capital appreciation  and invest in less researched shares of speculative nature. Because of these speculative investments Aggressive   Growth Funds become more volatile and thus, are prone to higher risk than other equity funds.
2. Growth Funds - Growth Funds also invest for capital appreciation (with time horizon of 3 to 5 years) but they are  different from Aggressive Growth Funds in the sense that they invest in companies that are expected to outperform the market in the future. Without entirely adopting speculative strategies, Growth Funds invest in those companies that are expected to post above average earnings in the future.
3.Speciality Funds: Speciality funds have stated criteria for investment and their portfolio comprises of only those  companies that meet their criteria. Criteria for some speciality funds could be to invest/not to invest in particular regions/companies. Speciality funds are concentrated and thus, are comparatively riskier than diversified funds.  These are following types of speciality funds: