Soumya Eswaran

Wed, May 28, 2025, 6:47 AM4 min read

Sands Capital, an investment management company, released its “Sands Capital Technology Innovators Fund” Q1 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Technology Innovators focus on pioneering businesses worldwide that serve as key drivers or beneficiaries of significant long-term changes driven by technology. The fund returned -10.4% (net) in the first quarter compared to a 9.4% return for the benchmark, MSCI ACWI Info Tech and Communication Services Index. The choice of securities in the software sector was the primary factor negatively impacting relative performance. You can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know more about its best picks for 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Sands Capital Technology Innovators Fund highlighted stocks such as AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP). AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) develops a software-based platform for advertisers to enhance the marketing and monetization of their content. The one-month return of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) was 41.44%, and its shares gained 354.06% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 27, 2025, the stock of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) closed at $380.91 per share, with a market capitalization of $128.895 billion.

Sands Capital Technology Innovators Fund stated the following regarding AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) is one of the leading providers of advertising solutions for mobile game developers. Its stock price decline stemmed from a broader selloff in high-beta stocks, exacerbated by multiple short reports. These reports allege app-install manipulation and improper data attribution—claims we view as largely unfounded. AppLovin’s revenue is tied to purchases, not clicks, and its customers use sophisticated attribution tools. Given the opaque nature of ad tech, we took added precautions in our due diligence, consulting ad fraud experts and a forensic accountant. We see no new concerns that alter our conviction and believe the selloff has improved the long-term risk-reward in our favor.