How Viking Global became the hedge-fund industry's hottest launch pad

D1 Capital's Daniel Sundheim and Viking Global's Andreas Halvorsen.

Brendan McDermid/Reuters; Scott Olson/Getty; Shayanne Gal/Insider

Grant Wonders, a top performer at Viking Global, raised $1 billion to launch his own hedge fund.
Six other alumni of Andreas Halvorsen's $60 billion empire have launched funds in recent years.
Insiders explained the secret sauce that's setting them up for success.

Since Dan Sundheim's massively successful launch of D1 Capital in 2018, there have been six more spinoffs from Viking Global that have collectively raised billions — and at least two more are in the works.

Among them: Grant Wonders, 31, who launched Voyager Global last year, raising over $1 billion. Funds on the way include Divya Nettimi's Avala Global, which is expected to raise more than $1 billion, and 30-year-old Jeff Butler's unnamed firm, which is in the process of raising money.

The flurry of activity has industry insiders crowning Andreas Halvorsen's $47 billion Viking as the new go-to training ground for hot hedge-fund launches — not unlike Julian Robertson's Tiger Management and its many spinoffs, which are dubbed Tiger Cubs.

Industry experts and former Viking employees told Insider the unusual level of demand for Viking's alums was a testament to the firm's two decades of strong returns — as well as a culture that empowers its stock pickers with more autonomy than most competitors.

"For a new fund, what's really important to them is the DNA of where the person is coming from," Ilana Weinstein, the founder of the recruiting firm IDW Group, said.

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