Tiger Global was known for significantly contributing to the venture capital surge during the pandemic era, investing substantially across numerous startups, which even resulted in bidding contests for less established startups, causing inflated valuations. In just 2021, PitchBook data reveals the hedge fund supported 315 startups.

Many within the VC industry expressed dissatisfaction about these developments, even back then. By late 2021, Tiger Global persuaded its backers to invest $12.7 billion in its fifteenth venture fund (referred to as PIP 15) and subsequently invested the majority of this capital into additional startups in the ensuing months. TechCrunch reported that by May 2022, most of the fund’s resources had been expended.

The firm’s aggressive investment approach backfired. As the U.S. Federal Reserve began a swift increase in interest rates in 2022, funds became scarcer, and startups’ valuations declined considerably. And as 2024 draws to a close, Tiger’s impact continues with startups struggling to meet their 2021 valuations.

A notable point is that a recent disclosure from one of Tiger’s investors reveals that the performance of Tiger Global’s fifteenth fund is especially weak, compared to other funds of the time which experienced modest returns.

By the date of June 30, 2024, the reported paper losses for Tiger Global PIP 15 surpassed 15%, based on a recently issued report from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), an investor in Tiger. Such significant losses position the fund among the bottom 10% of all venture funds initiated in 2021, as per the most recent PitchBook Benchmarks.

The firm has adjusted the values of many of its investments from their peak valuations, with email service Superhuman down by 45%, the search engine DuckDuckGo by 72%, and the NFT marketplace OpenSea by 94%, as Bloomberg disclosed last year.

Neither Tiger Global nor CalSTRS chose to comment.

It’s accurate that a VC fund generally requires a decade to solidify its returns beyond mere paper profits, with those returns being realized through exits or other financial sales events. Thus, some of these firms might eventually reach or exceed their 2021 peak.

Yet, alternative 2021 vintage funds within the CalSTRS portfolio show noticeably superior results. To illustrate, Valor Equity Partners’ fifth fund exhibits paper returns (an indicator termed internal rate of returns) of a strong positive 15.7%, according to the document. Simultaneously, 2021 funds from OakHC/FT, IVP, and GGV (this year renamed as Notable Capital) achieved returns of 8.7%, 4.1%, and 2.8%, respectively.

Although many substantial venture fundraisers, such as Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Kleiner Perkins, managed to secure considerable funds this year, Tiger Global scaled back its private markets pursuits partly due to the inability to acquire as much new capital as planned. Specifically, in October 2022, Tiger Global set an objective to amass $6 billion for its sixteenth private markets fund, later adjusting the target to $5 billion, as stated by the Wall Street Journal.

However, the New York outfit did not reach even half of the new aim. After gathering funds for nearly 18 months, PIP 16 finalized with only $2.2 billion in commitments earlier in the year, Bloomberg conveyed. Though this is still a sizeable fund, it doesn’t match the initial aspirations.

Nevertheless, Tiger Global retains a substantial reservoir of resources for investing in startups. Up to this point in the year, the firm has participated in 24 VC deals, involving Waymo, OpenAI, Scale AI, and Wiz, as PitchBook data indicates.

Despite nearly three years passing since the peak of Tiger Global’s investment enthusiasm, it will take a while for the firm to shed its image of having made numerous misguided investments during the pandemic.

Some personnel responsible for the fast-paced VC investment plan of that time are no longer affiliated with the firm. John Curtius, a principal investor at Tiger Global in the VC domain, departed in late 2022 to launch Cedar Investment Management, his own firm. Reports suggest that this firm aimed to assemble $1 billion. Whether the fund was successfully raised or commenced investments is still unclear. Additionally, Tiger Global’s VC head, Scott Shleifer, also shifted to a consultative role earlier in the year.