Summary List PlacementUniversa Investments, a hedge fund known as a "Black Swan" fund because it profits from market shocks, made headlines again for posting a 4,144% return in the first quarter of 2020. The S&P 500 saw its fastest crash ever during that same period. The firm's strategy of "tail-risk hedging," or "Black Swan" investing, was developed by Mark Spitznagel, the company's president and CIO, and its scientific advisor Nassim Nicholas Taleb. But despite the slam dunk the company enjoyed early last year, Universa says it's not actually in the downturn prediction business, but rather the downturn protection business.