FORM 3

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

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(Print or Type Responses)

1. Name and Address of Reporting Person *   Rajpal Sumit 2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year) 11/28/2008 3. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol VALIDUS HOLDINGS LTD [VR] (Last) (First) (Middle) 85 BROAD STREET 4. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable) __X__ Director _____ 10% Owner _____ Officer (give title below) _____ Other (specify below) 5. If Amendment, Date Original Filed(Month/Day/Year) (Street) NEW YORK, NY 10004 6. Individual or Joint/Group Filing(Check Applicable Line) _X_ Form filed by One Reporting Person ___ Form filed by More than One Reporting Person (City) (State) (Zip) Table I - Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned

1.Title of Security (Instr. 4) 2. Amount of Securities Beneficially Owned (Instr. 4) 3. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5) 4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5) Common Stock 14,057,137 I See footnotes (1) (2)

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Table II - Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

1. Title of Derivative Security (Instr. 4)	2. Date Exercisable and Expiration Date (Month/Day/Year)		3. Title and Amount of Securities Underlying Derivative Security (Instr. 4)		4. Conversion or Exercise Price of Derivative Security	5. Ownership Form of Derivative Security: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5)	6. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5)
	Date Exercisable	Expiration Date	Title	Amount or Number of Shares
Warrants to purchase Common Shares	  (3)	12/12/2015	Common Shares	1,604,410.1	$ 17.5	I	See footnotes (1) (2)

Reporting Owners

Reporting Owner Name / Address	Relationships
	Director	10% Owner	Officer	Other
Rajpal Sumit 85 BROAD STREET NEW YORK, NY 10004	  X	Â	Â	Â

Signatures

/s/ Kevin P. Treanor, Attorney-in-fact		12/02/2008
**Signature of Reporting Person		Date

Explanation of Responses:

*	If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 5(b)(v).
**	Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
(1)	The Reporting Person is a managing director of Goldman, Sachs & Co. ("Goldman Sachs"). Goldman Sachs is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ("GS Group"). The Reporting Person disclaims beneficial ownership of the securities reported herein except to the extent of his pecuniary interest therein, if any.
(2)	Goldman Sachs and GS Group may be deemed to beneficially own indirectly, in the aggregate, 14,057,137 common shares of Validus Holdings, Ltd., par value $0.175 per share (the "Common Shares") and 1,604,410.1 warrants to purchase Common Shares by reason of the beneficial ownership of such shares by certain investment partnerships of which affiliates of Goldman Sachs and GS Group are the general partner, managing general partner or managing limited partner.
(3)	The warrants are exercisable at any time prior to December 12, 2015.

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