D1 Capital Partners, the hedge fund firm founded by Dan Sundheim, ran into trouble with its private equity and venture capital bets for the second year running in 2023, with the firm making down the value of 49 companies in its portfolio, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites an investor letter seen by Bloomberg as revealing that, before accounting for fees and adjusting for share classes with varying exposures to private investments, the hedge fund ended the year up just 0.8%. Markdowns of about 10% in the private book impacted the stock portfolio’s 21% gain.

Despite the low overall return though, executives at D1 say they are starting to see a "thawing" in private markets having chalked up a 30.5% loss in 2022 on the back of a rout in tech stocks and plunging VC valuations.

Private wagers at the New York-based firm account for 60% of its $19bn of assets, according to the letter, and since inception in 2018, it's private book has produced a net internal rate of return of 15.5%