Avala Global, launched by former Viking Global star trader Divya Nettimi, had strong performance numbers in 2025.
However, the firm has continued to lose staff.
Three investment analysts left in the second half of 2025, and Nettimi’s fund is set to lose two more senior executives in 2026, including the firm’s COO.
Avala Global, the $2 billion manager launched by Nettimi in late 2022, gained 22.1% in 2025, according to the firm’s year-end letter to clients, which was viewed by Business Insider. Several people close to the firm told Business Insider that the manager achieved these returns despite losing analysts Jordan Straff, Nadine Lin, and Michael Wang.
Straff was a longtime investor at Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Capital before joining Avala in early 2024, while Lin and Wang both joined from Steve Cohen’s Point72.
The manager will also lose its COO, David Angstreich, and top fundraiser, Rebecca Chia. Both are set to depart in the coming months, three people close to the firm tell Business Insider.
Angstreich and Lin did not respond to requests for comment, while Chia and Straff declined to comment. Business Insider could not reach Wang in time for publication. Avala declined to comment.
Angstreich has been with Avala since its launch, while Chia joined in mid-2025 after stints at Atalaya Capital and Third Point.
The letter highlighted the team’s “depth and experience” but made no mention of the departures or expected exits. The firm hired onetime Viking Global general counsel Andrew Genser as its in-house lawyer last year and added at least four new analysts in 2025, LinkedIn shows, including two end-of-year hires from private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.
“We believe we have laid a strong foundation for the next phase of our growth,” the letter reads.
Last June, Business Insider reported that a majority of Avala’s day-one team had left the firm, including the entire four-person investing team that reported to Nettimi. Three people who had previously worked at the firm told Business Insider they left because of a tense workplace environment that came from the top of the firm. While she declined to address the specifics around different employees’ exits, Nettimi told Business Insider last year that she was confident in her team and the process for finding and vetting new talent.
Nettimi, a former Forbes 30 under 30 honoree who spent years investing at Viking Global, has managed to make money despite the churn. The firm has made more than 20% in each of the three full years it has been trading, besting the S&P 500 and Nettimi’s former manager over the same period.
The firm’s most recent letter to investors stated that long-term holdings in stocks such as data-storage company Seagate Technology, German power company Siemens Energy, and Finnish sporting goods conglomerate Amer Sports were key in driving performance last year.
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