Mapping the public-equity universe: 1,000+ funds later

In tech, people like to highlight “ex-Google” or “ex-Meta.” The buy-side works the same way. If you want to understand a fund, look at where the key person (the founders and the Director of Research, sometimes that’s the same person) came from. That usually gets you 80–90% of the way to understanding how they invest and how you should pitch them.

After categorizing 1,000+ U.S. hedge funds and long-onlys, clear family trees started to emerge. Below are some of the major ones worth tracking when you’re doing diligence on a new launch or considering your next career move. (For clarity, I’m only covering equity funds here—any credit-focused spinouts I came across aren’t included.)

Tiger Cubs

You already know the big names, the first-gen Tiger Cubs: Viking, Maverick, Tiger Global, Lone Pine, Coatue, Deerfield, Ospraie, Steadfast, and Energy Income Partners. Some funds aren’t on this list because they’re either non-U.S. or not fundamental in style — think Egerton (UK-based), Discovery (macro), Pantera (crypto), or K2 Advisors (fund-of-funds). Blue Ridge has shut down, but it left behind plenty of offspring: Valiant, Bayberry, Falcon Edge/Alpha Wave, and Bridger.

Of all these, Viking probably produced the most spinouts. They built a culture of giving promising juniors real capital to run early on — which turned into a deep bench of future founders such as Dan Sundheim and Tom Purcell.

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