Whale Rock Capital Management's flagship hedge fund lost 21.7% in July 2026, slashing its year-to-date gain to 35.1% from 72.5% at the end of June. The Boston-based firm, which manages $19 billion, saw its long-only fund drop 18.8% in the same month, though that fund still holds a 36.8% gain for the year. Alex Sacerdote runs the hedge fund, which marks its 20th anniversary in 2026.
The July Selloff
The sharp decline came as a broad pullback in technology and AI-related stocks hit Whale Rock's concentrated portfolio. The firm had added to its stakes in SanDisk and Bloom Energy during the first quarter. Both stocks tumbled in July alongside CoreWeave, another holding. SanDisk stock is down 30% in the last month alone. Mega-cap names like Google and Meta saw only minor declines in July, suggesting the pain was concentrated in smaller AI infrastructure plays rather than the big tech bellwethers.
Portfolio Moves and Losers
Whale Rock's first-quarter filings showed increased positions in SanDisk, a memory-chip maker, and Bloom Energy, a fuel-cell company. Both are tied to the AI data-center buildout. When investor sentiment toward AI infrastructure spending soured in July, those stocks took the hardest hits. The fund's long-only portfolio, which also holds a mix of growth and tech names, fared slightly better but still suffered an 18.8% monthly loss.
AI Stock Rout Hits Other Funds Too
Whale Rock wasn't alone. Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness fund posted a 67% loss in July, the sharpest hedge fund drawdown of the month. Some strategists compare the AI stock pullback to the dot-com era, while others see it as a buying opportunity. The divergence in views reflects the uncertainty around whether the current AI spending cycle will sustain or fizzle.
Whale Rock's August performance may depend on earnings season and investor sentiment toward AI infrastructure spending. The firm's year-to-date return, though halved, still sits at 35.1% — a level many funds would envy. But with SanDisk and Bloom Energy still under pressure, the next few weeks will test whether the July selloff was a correction or the start of a longer downturn.
