Dear Esteemed Investors,
"The Chinese startup behind the popular Manus AI agent is seeking a $500 million valuation—and could raise the money from U.S. investors. This could have been Nilesh and his team at GenInnov..." — a decades-long professional investor and early supporter.
The above comments landed in our inbox recently. The sender had seen a demonstration of our research processes back in mid-2024—something many of our investors have also witnessed firsthand. However unworthy we may be, the remark above captures what we've been attempting to build for some time—an approach now beginning to emerge in agentic frameworks elsewhere.
There are four things that define investing with GenInnov Funds:
• Different thinking
• Different processes
• Different portfolio construction
• Different performance
Our performance is increasingly visible in how different our returns compare to almost any global index. Our original thinking is also visible, clearly laid out in the long form writing we publish, both to you and publicly. In this letter, we want to focus on the second and third parts—our processes and portfolio.
Unlike most fundamental investors, we are not big fans of speaking with company management, attending conferences, or spending too much time parsing quarterly result commentaries. Most of what comes out of these forums is already well-known. In a world of earnings transcripts, smart analyst coverage, and high regulatory transparency, there’s hardly any informational edge left. Analyst forecasts, in particular, rarely contain anything that isn't already priced in—they’re just differing assumptions dressed up as insight.
General corporate communication is rarely built to convey anything deeply technical. Its aim is accessibility, which often results in the oversimplification of complex innovation—packaging it into punchy headlines, simplified narratives, and rosy projections. This isn’t a bug; it’s a feature. Companies must communicate broadly, so the most nuanced, insightful parts are left out, especially by those already under pressure and with every incentive to stick to the positive script.
In a more stable world, where change was gradual and the pace of innovation slow, that was fine. But today, that is not enough. Real investing expertise lies in tracking innovation at the level of engineering, chemistry, code, or architecture—whatever the field demands. And these insights almost never make it to corporate presentations or investor calls.
That is where we choose to focus. Using generative AI and customized research methods, we have been able to pursue a type of research that was not possible even a year ago. Our processes have led to unique conclusions for the portfolio, avoiding the application layers on one side and many differing selections on the other.
For example:
• Innovent Biologics, a Chinese biotech name, rarely receives the depth of innovation analysis it deserves. We used GenAI to build tables tracking its drug pipeline across clinical phases, molecule by molecule. This gave us conviction early, and the stock has performed strongly since.
• Halozyme, another biotech firm, has seen investor concern around the maturity of its core injection technology. But our analysis of its partner activity and innovation roadmap told a different story—one that has played out well in stock performance, making it a rare defensive name with an upside.
• Nova Ltd., an Israeli semiconductor instrumentation company barely covered by Wall Street, stood out through our independent GenAI-based technical investigation. We saw why it's winning market share and is set to benefit from the next wave in semiconductor demand cycles.
These are not isolated examples. We have developed AI-based investigative techniques for over a year and deployed them across the portfolio. What some see today in agentic platforms like Manus—automated research agents discovering and analyzing themes—has been part of our workflow through many unique automated methods for many months. Ours may not be as slick or commercial, but it is real and deeply embedded in how we research and invest.
We advise all our investors to approach us anytime to demonstrate the new ways. Even those who have seen us in action before will have new surprises.
GenInnov Pte Ltd officially obtained the regulatory license last month. As discussed, we are scheduled to port your fund's official management to this entity by the beginning of May. We will send you the documentation in the coming weeks to formalize this. Your fund management team remains the same, and it will move to the new entity on the same day of the fund's transfer.
We look forward to seeing all of you in our new office,
Warm Regards,
Nilesh Jasani
Portfolio Manager
Dear Esteemed Investors,
From the depths of our being, thank you. You had no reason to believe in us, yet you did. You backed something unconventional, something different, something that didn’t fit the mold. We had no track record and little to show why our ways or thinking may work. The current year so far has been transformative for us, as we discuss below in a host of ways. As we embark further in our journey with more spring in our feet, we need to explicitly and adequately convey to you, our true partners in our first - likely the most lonely - leg, our feelings of gratitude. We promise—we will not forget.
We are unconventional to the core. As we see it, we have:
• different thinking
• different processes (we write so much!)
• different portfolio construction and a completely unique portfolio
• and, as proven now, a different performance trajectory
We are unique not for the sake of it but because the conventional path doesn’t lead to where we want to go. We don’t just invest; we challenge, question, rethink. And that’s why we write so much. Writing isn’t a side exercise—it’s how we clarify our convictions, sharpen our insights, and hold ourselves accountable. It forces us to structure our thoughts and expose them to scrutiny. It is not marketing; it is thinking.
Writing also forces us to do deep research—not just to ensure that we know, but to understand the views that are still not priced into the market. It compels us to search for insights in corners few are exploring. This habit made us the first globally in financial markets to uncover the massive implications of DeepSeek and to be pioneers of many new themes, such as instant copyability, the hardware-software flip, AI embodiment, and several others that remain underappreciated.
And does this different way of thinking result in a different way of investing? Absolutely. Our process isn’t shaped by narratives; it’s shaped by reality. We don’t move with the crowd; we move with conviction. The market rewards those who can see through the noise, and our process is built for precisely that—structured, deliberate, patient, and deeply informed.
Our portfolio reflects this. It is global, not tied to any single market, yet it primarily invests in our era's four major innovation centers. While we invest across sectors, we see no meaningful innovation in two-thirds of them, and those sectors have zero weighting in our portfolio. People often ask how we compare to benchmarks, but the reality is that our composition does not remotely fit any index that would do comparable justice.
Different processes and different portfolio constructions are ok, but does it result in different performance? Those of you who have followed us closely can see it in the results. We are not a Nasdaq proxy. Our holdings are not a bet on one theme, geography, or cycle. Our portfolio is concentrated and yet diversified; it seeks growth and is still fundamentally sensible; it has tilts defined by our top-down innovation views but also with unique bottom-up research. It is designed to survive different kinds of markets, not just the easy ones. The numbers prove it—in returns and in correlations.
This month was a good one, giving us the courage to say all this out loud. But we know that markets move in cycles. We will have months when nothing works, when our views seem out of sync with the world, and when we must sit quietly under a rock and wait. That will not change our approach. We will not chase momentum, we will not play to the gallery, and we will not pretend to be something we are not. We also know we will make mistakes in thinking and stock selections. We hope we have the courage to admit them.
Our ambitions have always been unsuitable for our size. We started in fund management within a declining industry that few believed was worth pursuing. Last year, we wanted to do foundational GenAI work for the asset management industry but were stopped without enough capital to back us. Could we have built something like DeepSeek ? Possibly. But we were either too new, untested, or experienced to convince others to bet on us. It doesn’t matter. What matters is what we build next.
Last month, we welcomed our first institutional investor. Just before, we obtained the in-principal license to operate your fund under our own Asset Management Company, which should be operational in the next few months. As we move into our new setup, we are thinking bigger. We want to spread our message, expand our reach, and grow our ambitions. We know you believe in what we are doing; if you want to support us further—whether through capital, connections, or conversations—reach out.
Once again, you were our first believers. You backed us when others hesitated, and for that, we owe you more than words can express. Thank you a zillion times. We will not forget.
Warm Regards,
Nilesh Jasani
Portfolio Manager
Dear Esteemed Investors,
In just about eight months since the fund’s inception, the median move in our portfolio stocks stands at a staggering 62% (in every stock’s range traveled, this is calculated based on the highest price as a percentage of the lowest during the period). This has occurred during what many would consider a relatively quiet period. With the kind of macro winds that have suddenly started gathering, the stock-level volatility has only one direction in the periods ahead, and unfortunately, it is not on the way down.
Our portfolio stocks exist in a realm where news flow is relentless, reactions are exaggerated, and patience is not just a virtue but a necessity. Equity markets, dominated by high-frequency momentum machines, quantitative funds, and hedge funds, tend to react to every piece of news with exaggerated swings, particularly because of the growth nature of our space. The volatility stat is always at the top of our minds as we construct the portfolio, balancing risk and opportunity while navigating these price movements.
“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient," as Warren Buffett wisely, though not originally, observed. This is generally fine, but our stocks are also prone to sudden disruptions because of the pace of innovation, as OpenAI might be finding out today. We simply cannot sit waiting for markets to bounce back and we equally cannot ignore the changing realities. We constantly seek to find the balance between the times we can use prices to our advantage, when we must admit defeat, and when we have to do nothing but watch.
At the macro level, this necessitates diversification. Recent events, such as the developments around DeepSeek in China, have validated our global diversification themes, particularly the risks around instant copyability. However, at the stock level, the lessons are often more nuanced.
Take Vertex Pharmaceuticals. A clinical trial result sparked a sell-off two months ago, but we held firm. Today, the stock trades at new highs after regulatory approval for its drug—a reminder that not all storms uproot the tree. Yet, not every story resolves so cleanly. Novo Nordisk faced a sharp drop after slightly negative test results for its weight-loss drug in December. Despite subsequent positive outcomes, the stock has barely budged from the depressed levels. In this case, we use the Vertex example to remind us that patience will pay off if the innovation thesis is not subverted.
We've also seen the opposite dynamics in Xiaomi and Samsung Electronics. Xiaomi initially rose two or three times by 25%, only to fall below our purchase price each time, despite its strong fundamentals. However, our conviction held, and the stock is now 2.5x the price of our first entry. Conversely, despite solid fundamentals and supportive valuations, Samsung Electronics continues to erode. Events like DeepSeek's advancements have impacted NVIDIA and TSMC similarly. For NVIDIA, this is understandable - risks have risen. We have our conviction that this is unjustified, but we also have to be mindful that there could be a substantial change in its growth profile near-term if the data center industry collapses. Conversely, the negative spillover to TSMC is baffling. Whether demand comes from data centers or edge devices, TSMC’s role as the world’s semiconductor foundry remains irreplaceable. Fragmentation in computing isn’t a threat—it’s a tailwind. The force that is not impacting the prices of stocks like MediaTek and Qualcomm since the breakout of DeepSeek news is the one that should benefit TSMC too. With nearly every major technology device reliant on TSMC’s manufacturing, a shift in clientele from centralized giants like NVIDIA to decentralized device makers doesn’t weaken TSMC’s fundamentals—it potentially strengthens them.
The key takeaway is that the news flow around our portfolio will remain intense. Volatility is inevitable, whether from stock-specific events or macro factors like interest rates, geopolitical tensions, or tariffs. However, our focus will always remain on the fundamentals of the companies we invest in, ensuring we’re not swayed by short-term price actions driven by external noise.
As we step into the Year of the Wooden Snake, we wish you a prosperous and insightful new year. Thank you for your continued trust and confidence in us.
Warm Regards,
Nilesh Jasani
Portfolio Manager
