All eyes on Mala Gaonkar!
Mala Gaonkar made history on Tuesday. SurgoCap Partners, founded by Gaonkar, started trading at $1.8 billion, making it the largest ever debut of a female-led hedge fund.
According to Bloomberg, SurgoCap “will use data science to invest around the theme of how technology can enhance other sectors such as financials, industrials, health care and enterprise data.”
Gaonkar was born in the U.S. but spent most of her early years in Bengaluru, India. She attended Harvard University and Harvard Business School. Gaonkar went on to spend the next 24 years at Lone Pine Capital, an American-based hedge fund and investment advisor. Goankar reached the role of Managing Director before going off on her own to start SurgoCap, in February 2022.
And as if she didn’t sound perfect enough, Gaonkar is well known for her philanthropic endeavours. Last year, Goankar signed up to The Giving Pledge, a campaign started by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Melinda Gates to encourage the world’s richest to commit to donating more than half their wealth to charitable causes.
Side note: Sam Bankman-Fried also committed to The Giving Pledge in 2022, but it’s looking more like he is the one in need of charity now.
At SurgoCap, Gaonkar is also saving $100 million of capacity for smaller endowments, foundations and non-profits that help underserved communities or address climate change. Those investors will reportedly pay lower fees.
In addition to SurgoCap Partners, Gaonkar co-founded the Surgo Foundation in 2015 to focus on using artificial intelligence and behavioral science to solve global health problems. The non-profit organisation was cofounded with Sema Sgaier, a Libyan global health expert.
Following that, the pair founded Surgo Ventures, another non-profit focussed on solving health and social problems.
SurgoCap’s big launch comes just after another successful female-led hedge fund debut in October 2022. Divya Nettimi’s Avala Global began trading with more than $1 billion in committed cash.
It’s looking like we’re gearing up for a great year for women in the financial sector!
