Divya Nettimi, a former Viking Global Investors portfolio manager who oversaw more than $4 billion at the Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund firm, has become the first woman to launch a hedge fund with more than $1 billion of commitments, according to a report by the Indian Express.

The report cites an unnamed sources as revealing that Nettimi, who left Viking Global last year to strike out on her own, has already begin investing the majority of the cash raised by her new firm Avala Global, with the remainder expected to follow in the first quarter of next year.  

As well as being the largest hedge fund ever launched by a woman, New York-based Avala Global is among the biggest debuts of the year.

The fund will employ a long-short strategy focused on bets on stocks in the consumer, business services and technology, media and telecom sectors. The fund will also back private companies. Fund-raising so far has been achieved without the support of previous Viking Global clients as anti-competition agreements prohibit Nettimi from soliciting from them until November.