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Dipsea Capital
David Taft's Dipsea Capital runs a capacity-constrained global macro relative-value strategy from Larkspur, CA. The firm closed to new capital in 2020.
Dipsea Capital
David Taft founded Dipsea Capital in 2019 after seven years at BlackRock, where he ran the firm's $25 billion systematic macro strategies and its Global Ascent Fund. The launch was backed by a seeding commitment from BlackRock, which took an economic stake in the general partnership. Taft structured the new firm in Larkspur, California, explicitly outside the New York/Connecticut hedge fund corridor, signaling a deliberate rejection of institutional scope creep. Dipsea runs a concentrated global macro relative-value book, spanning G10 rates, foreign exchange, and commodity markets. The firm does not take outright directional bets on central-bank policy or broad equity indices. Instead, it constructs pair trades and curve trades designed to isolate mispricings between linked instruments. Taft has cited the strategy's intellectual lineage to the Goldman Sachs macro desk of the 2000s, where he traded before BlackRock. The firm reports a minimal correlation to traditional macro managers and zero to the S&P 500, a feature that drew interest from family offices and endowments seeking unblended return streams. Dipsea closed to new capital in 2020, roughly 18 months after launch, capping assets to preserve capacity in its niche. The closure memo cited a soft cap around $800 million. The firm operates with a lean team relative to its AUM, avoiding the multi-PM model. In April 2021, Dipsea nominated a new independent director to its board, Apex Capital Management founder Nitin Kumbhani, signaling a governance upgrade consistent with an institutional-grade hedge fund preparing for a permanent, capacity-constrained posture. Dipsea's structure is unusual among systematic-derived macro firms. Taft is the sole CIO and the firm runs one strategy, not a platform of pods. Its seeding relationship with BlackRock provides institutional credibility without daily interference, and the firm's West Coast location filters for investors who value strategy over marketing proximity. The capacity constraint is real — the firm has returned capital in years when opportunities shrank — making it a structural bet on the idea that macro alpha is finite and degrades with scale.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2019
AUM
$500M–$1B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Larkspur
Corporate office
Larkspur, CA, United States
Principals
David D. Taft
Founder & CIO
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is Dipsea Capital's core investment strategy?
Dipsea runs a global macro relative-value strategy focused on G10 rates, foreign exchange, and commodities. Rather than making directional bets on central-bank policy or equity indices, the firm constructs pair trades and curve trades to isolate mispricings between related instruments. The approach targets returns uncorrelated to both traditional macro peers and equity markets.
Is Dipsea Capital currently open to new investors?
No. Dipsea closed to new outside capital in 2020, roughly 18 months after launching, and has maintained that posture since. The firm explicitly caps assets to protect strategy capacity. Taft has cited a soft cap around $800 million as the upper bound where relative-value edges begin to degrade in liquid macro markets.
What is the relationship between Dipsea Capital and BlackRock?
BlackRock seeded Dipsea Capital at launch in 2019 and retains an economic stake in the general partnership. The relationship is arm's-length — BlackRock provided seed capital and a GP stake, which is standard for a strategic seeding platform, but does not interfere with portfolio management. Taft previously ran BlackRock's $25 billion systematic macro strategies unit.
Who makes investment decisions at Dipsea Capital?
David Taft is the sole chief investment officer and portfolio manager, running one centralized strategy rather than a multi-PM platform. The firm does not divide capital across pods or sub-managers. This concentrated decision-making model contrasts with the multi-strat platform approach that has dominated hedge fund launches in recent years.
Why is Dipsea Capital based in Larkspur, California rather than a traditional financial center?
Taft deliberately chose Marin County to signal independence from the New York and Connecticut hedge fund hubs. The location filters for allocators willing to travel for a differentiated strategy and reinforces the firm's anti-scale ethos. It also separates the investment team from the daily noise of sell-side trading desks, which Taft has cited as a concentration advantage.
What is Dipsea Capital's approach to correlation with equity markets?
Dipsea targets near-zero correlation to the S&P 500 and low correlation to traditional macro managers. The firm's relative-value construction — being short one instrument and long another within the same asset class — strips out broad market beta. This profile attracted early interest from endowments and family offices seeking an uncorrelated return stream within a hedge fund allocation.
What does Dipsea Capital's capacity constraint mean in practice?
The firm returned capital in years when the opportunity set contracted rather than accepting asset growth that would dilute returns. This is a credible constraint, not a marketing posture, since Taft closed to new money within 18 months of launch while still running well below the asset levels of competing macro platforms. The firm's governance structure, including an independent board director named in 2021, supports this disciplined approach.
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