VARA’s AI Fund Drops 44% in July
VARA’s flagship AI Fund fell 44% in July, cutting its year-to-date gain to about 65% after a selloff in AI-related stocks hit crowded positions.
Value Aligned Research Advisors’ flagship AI Fund fell 44% in July as a selloff in AI-related stocks hit crowded positions, trimming the fund’s year-to-date gain to about 65% through July.
An investor document showed the strategy had been up almost 200% through June before the July pullback. VARA declined to comment on the performance.
New Jersey-based Value Aligned Research Advisors managed roughly $26.4 billion at the end of June, about 16 months after launching its hedge fund operations. The firm was founded by Ben Hoskin and David Field and focuses on companies tied to advanced artificial intelligence, including firms involved in AI infrastructure, data centers and power generation.
Regulatory filings and investor disclosures show substantial overlap between VARA’s holdings and those of Situational Awareness, an AI-focused fund founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner. At the end of March the two managers held 15 common stocks, including CoreWeave, Bloom Energy, IREN, Applied Digital, Core Scientific and Riot Platforms.
Those overlapping positions accounted for about 93% of Situational Awareness’ disclosed equity portfolio by value, compared with roughly 27% for VARA.
Investors sold shares of companies tied to AI infrastructure and other businesses expected to benefit from wider use of advanced models. The selloff affected funds that held many of the same names.
The July decline followed large gains earlier in the year and occurred amid volatility in AI-linked equities as investors reassessed valuations and execution risks for providers of AI hardware and services.
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