6 Bizarre and Interesting Hedge Fund Strategies
1) Marijuana Hedge Funds
The Tribeca Global Natural Resources Fund, run Australian hedge fund Tribeca, invests in a variety of “natural” commodities including marijuana and even salmon. The fund utilizes a long/short strategy and is managed by Ben Cleary and Craig Evans. The fund was up a staggering 145% in 2016.
Likewise, Poseidon Asset Management is a hedge fund founded exclusively to invest in pot industry companies.
2) Cryptocurrency Hedge Funds
There are now almost as many cryptocurrency hedge funds as there are cryptocurrencies. At latest count, there were well over 100 crypto hedge funds. IN the second half of 2017 alone, the number of crypto funds nearly doubled. That the number of crypto hedge funds is growing, is probably no surprise given the huge gains in cryptos like Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Mike Novogratz, formally of Fortress Investment Group, has recently launced what’s expected to be a $500 million crypto hedge fund including $150 million of his own money. The fund will be called the Galaxy Digital Assets Fund.
Another recent and somewhat prominent crypto hedge funds is MetaStable. They operate a Balance crypto fund as well as a fund designed to give access to smaller and recent coin ICOs.
There is even a crypto fund of funds operated by BitBull Capital. The minimum investment for their cryptocurrency fund of funds is $100,000.
3) Water Rights Hedge Funds
With more than 7 billion people competing for Earth’s scare resources, it should come as no surprise that several hedge funds invest in water rights. Aptly named Water Asset Management seeks to be a leader in managing global water investments. The fund has offices in New York and California and about $400 million in assets under management. They operate three water-focused hedge funds and two water-focused private equity funds.
Another appropriately named water rights hedge funds is Aqua Capital Management. They have executed more than 500 water rights transactions since 2008. Some representative transactions include buying excess water rights from farmers that do not need their entire allocation. They also sell water rights to commercial and residential developments.
