Senvest Management

Richard Mashaal founded the firm in 1997 and leads investment decisions from the New York office. The firm's website identifies him as the founder but does not specify a CIO title; his father, Victor Mashaal, co-owns roughly 45% of the public parent company, Senvest Capital, but day-to-day portfolio management sits with the New York-based team.

It occupies a hybrid space. Senvest Management is a registered investment advisor that manages capital for the Mashaal family alongside external limited partners in the Senvest Master Fund. The family's wealth constitutes a substantial portion of the fund's capital, giving the firm the incentives of a single-family office, but its SEC registration and accepting outside capital place it formally in the hedge-fund category.

The firm focuses on global public equities through a long/short equity strategy. Its website does not list allocations to private equity, venture capital, real estate, or credit in the investment-advisor vehicle, though the parent holding company, Senvest Capital, describes itself as having interests in both public securities and private investments.

The Senvest Master Fund returned 86.19% net in 2021, followed by a loss of 19.76% in 2022 (per the firm's published monthly NAV data). The 2021 gain was widely reported by financial media to have been amplified by a concentrated bet on a heavily shorted video game retailer, consistent with the firm's contrarian, high-conviction approach.

Because Senvest Capital is publicly traded but 45% controlled by Victor and Richard Mashaal, the firm can access permanent equity capital from the holding company's balance sheet while avoiding the quarterly redemption cycles that constrain typical hedge funds. That lets the investment team hold positions through periods of volatility without facing forced liquidations.