[Edaily Reporter KIM YOON JI ] The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 4th (local time) that behind Situational Awareness (SA), an AI-focused hedge fund identified as the cause of last month’s market volatility, were major investors from Silicon Valley and Wall Street.
According to sources, investors in the SA fund included Dan Sundheim, founder of hedge fund D1 Capital Partners and a major shareholder in SpaceX; Silicon Valley investor Neil Meta, co-founder of venture capital firm INNOX Corporation; a foundation established by Gaurav Kapadia, founder of investment firm XN; and Feroz Dwan, who previously led the public equity division at Tiger Global Management. The SA Fund’s investors also include Patrick and John Collison, co-founders of the payment processing company Stripe, as well as Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman, who lead Meta Platforms’ AI business.
The SA Fund was founded in 2024 by Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI executive. Aschenbrenner has positioned himself at the center of the AI investment boom by growing the SA Fund’s assets under management to $45 billion.
Sources reported that while institutional investors—such as pension funds, university endowments, and sovereign wealth funds—typically make up the core client base for hedge funds of this size, institutional investors were reluctant to invest in the SA Fund because Aschenbrenner had no prior professional investment experience.

The network of connections that Ashenbrener has built with investment industry heavyweights was on full display at his wedding last weekend. The ceremony, held in Carmel, a coastal town in Northern California, was attended by Jane Street co-founder Rob Granieri, Eastrock Capital co-founder and SA advisor Graham Duncan, and Perroz Dwane, among others.
Aishon Brenner made a name for himself by publishing an article titled “Situational Awareness: The Next Decade,” which outlined the projected trajectory of AI development in 2024. Having effectively become an AI influencer, he was able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in seed funding and establish the SA Fund that same year. He grew rapidly by focusing his investments on semiconductor and AI infrastructure stocks such as SK hynix(000660), and SanDisk. He earned a reputation as an investor with a genius-level ability to identify promising stocks and was dubbed the “Nostradamus of AI.”
However, the SA Fund’s investment strategy was quite aggressive, involving high leverage and concentrated investments in a small number of stocks. In the prospectus, Ashburn stated, “There are no restrictions on the types of securities the SA Fund may invest in, the positions it may take, the degree of investment concentration, or the amount of leverage it may use.”
While this strategy delivered outstanding results during bull markets, it suffered significant losses during last month’s sharp market decline. Lenders issued margin calls, and the SA Fund, in need of cash, sold the majority of its portfolio to the large hedge fund Citadel. Citadel reportedly acquired the SA Fund’s assets at a 10% discount to market value.
The Wall Street Journal reported that warnings about excessive leverage had been raised even before the recent market crash. Some investors reportedly warned Ashenbrener of the risks of increasing borrowing and expressed dissatisfaction with what they perceived as insufficient communication and disclosure to investors.
Axia, which provides research and advisory services to institutional investors such as pension funds, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds, met with Achen Brenner in March of last year. While highly evaluating his capabilities and professional network, Axia raised concerns about risk management. Axia warned, “We need to be wary of the possibility that overconfidence could lead to risk management issues, and we must be particularly cautious if leverage is actually being used at significant levels.”
Furthermore, SA Fund did not report monthly performance results to investors, as most hedge funds do. According to sources, SA Fund disclosed its returns to investors only once every quarter.