Nik Storonsky, the billionaire founder of the financial services firm Revolut, is venturing into the venture capital industry with his new quantitative investment firm, QuantumLight. Founded in 2022, QuantumLight has invested in over a dozen startups since raising approximately $200 million for its debut fund. The firm, based in London, recently invested in health care-focused startup Rad AI, and is currently finalizing another deal.
QuantumLight differentiates itself from traditional venture firms by relying on algorithms and artificial intelligence over human input to source deals. The firm’s CEO, Ilya Kondrashov, stated that QuantumLight’s approach is logical and sets it apart from other startup investors.
Storonsky, who founded Revolut in 2015, allocated about $60 million to QuantumLight’s fund. The firm’s strategy allows for more precise and quicker decisions compared to humans, and Storonsky expects these methods to play a greater role in the market for startup deals.
Quant investing has traditionally been a powerful force in public markets, but systematic players have not typically touched private assets due to a lack of publicly available data. However, this is rapidly changing as Wall Street firms seek to gain an edge amid a recent boom in private equity and credit.
QuantumLight has hired several data engineers among its roughly two dozen employees, but Claudia Zeisberger, a senior affiliate professor for entrepreneurship at business school Insead, notes that an investor network is still crucial in venture capital.
QuantumLight bills itself as the “first truly systematic” venture firm and has raised money from other tech founders and family offices for its debut fund. The firm’s portfolio company executives have access to a “playbook” that draws on Storonsky’s experience of turning Revolut into one of Europe’s most valuable startups.
Kondrashov, the CEO of QuantumLight, expects to continue making investments at a consistent pace for the next three years or so with no immediate plans to raise another fund. The firm allocates about $5 million per investment.
