In 1997, Li Lu founded Himalaya as a one-man hedge fund in New York City after spending a year at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

The firm had an inauspicious start as it focused on investing in Asia but due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, it posted a 19% loss in its first year resulting in one of its largest investors withdrawing its capital.

The firm took stakes in Japanese and Korean stocks that had been battered by the crisis which helped it recover and by mid-2000s, it had around $100 million in assets under management which allowed it to hire more employees.

[2][4] In 2010, Li was granted re-entry into China as part of a trip to accompany Bill Gates, Buffett and Munger's visit to BYD Company to invest in it.

[2] The office set-up of Himalaya is carbon copied from Berkshire Hathaway, where teams of analysts cover a handful of companies in detail and report directly to a central decision maker.

[2] Himalaya keeps a low profile and doesn't actively court new investors as it already has a steady stream of high-net-worth individuals and pension funds to invest in it.