Whale Rock Flagship Fund Drops 21.7% in July as AI Sell-Off Cuts 2026 Gain to 35.1%
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Aug 4
Whale Rock Flagship Fund Drops 21.7% in July as AI Sell-Off Cuts 2026 Gain to 35.1%
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Aug 4
Summary
Whale Rock Capital’s flagship fund fell 21.7% in July, slashing its 2026 return to 35.1% from 72.5% through June after a sharp reversal in AI-linked stocks.
The $19 billion Boston manager’s long-only fund also lost 18.8% in July, though it remained up 36.8% for the year, underscoring how broadly the sell-off hit its growth-heavy bets.
SanDisk, Bloom Energy and CoreWeave tumbled in mid-July amid Asian market jitters, while Google and Meta also slipped as investors questioned sustained AI spending; Whale Rock had added to SanDisk and Bloom Energy in the first quarter.
Coatue lost 8.3% in July and Marshall Wace’s Eureka fund fell 6.9%, showing the pressure extended across tech-focused hedge funds.
Leopold Aschenbrenner’s 67% July loss was worsened by margin calls on leveraged AI positions, and Citadel’s purchase of most of his public equity book helped spark a partial rebound in battered AI shares.