Headstart Fund of Funds posted its fourth consecutive double-digit positive annual return in 2023, with back-to-back returns in excess of 20% in both 2022 and 2023 seeing it outperform global equity and bond markets and every hedge fund index on both a one- and two-year basis.
Headstart Fund of Funds returned 20.64% for 2022 and 20.46% last year.
During the same period, most financial asset classes had a strong 2023 after a poor 2022; for example, the NASDAQ fell 33.1% in 2022 before rising 43.4% in 2023 culminating in a 4.05% fall across the two-year period. Across the alternative investment industry, hedge fund returns were positive in 2023 — the benchmark index rose 5.34% — after a generally poor year in 2022, when the benchmark index fell 5.27%.
The fund’s outperformance caps a four-year period of dominant returns, which has seen gains of 107% since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
Headstart focuses on new fund launches and early-stage manager allocations which have the potential to become core holdings for many asset allocators, but also aims for uncorrelated returns while consistently requiring strong liquidity, risk and portfolio construction, as well as identifiable and repeatable processes.
While the firm is open to new hedge funds of most strategies, its portfolio of 30-35 investments has recently focused on arbitrage, tight net-long/short equity and global macro as well as being long volatility for downside protection.
