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HeadStart: The Fund of Hedge Funds That Tripled Its Benchmark Since 2009

This week's standout exclusive from Opalesque profiles London-based HeadStart Advisers, whose fund of hedge funds has returned 312% since 2009 against 112% for the HFRIFOF Index - and 188% for the HFR Fund-Weighted Composite single-manager index. The piece, based on an in-depth interview by Opalesque's Matthias Knab with HeadStart's Najy Nasser and Henry Watkinson, provides rare mathematical evidence for a proposition many allocators have been slow to revisit: that a well-constructed, high-conviction fund of funds can outperform both multi-strategy platforms and the single-manager universe simultaneously.

The core of HeadStart's edge is early-stage access. The fund backs managers at or before launch - typically veterans with USD 1 billion or more at major multi-strategy platforms - securing founder share class economics before those managers close to new capital. Around 45% of the portfolio by AUM is now in funds closed to new investors; roughly 65% carries discounted fee arrangements. Nasser estimates that in a normal performance year, fee savings from these early positions effectively cover the entire fund-of-funds management fee, neutralising the double-fee argument that has historically constrained the category. The fund currently holds 34 positions, offers monthly liquidity with 65 days notice, and has been positive across all three major stress episodes since 2019: up in both March and April 2020, up more than 20% in 2022 (outperforming the S&P 500 by more than 40 percentage points), and positive at the intraday low of the 2025 Liberation Day sell-off.

The ......................

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