Even before the credit crisis set in, many noted that hedge fund start-ups were few and far between. The idea that all you needed was a computer and some capital was always something of a myth, akin to the garage start-up in Palo Alto. (The concept is great for marketing and PR, however.) Are things now changing?

While the number of funds has dipped, Bloomberg notes that there is a lot of start-up activity underway currently, including a massive $1 billion fund launch from Arvind Raghunathan, former head of Deutsche Bank's global arbitrage unit. It is "one of at least eight expected to raise more than $250 million each." There's something to be said for the cliché that the best time to launch is when despair is deepest. We've seen a number of former bank executives flee to start up their own funds; we'll see how many survive. 

For more:
- here's the Bloomberg article

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