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Raphael Thys
Revolut founder Nik Storonsky is set to launch his own venture capital fund, powered by artificial intelligence.
The new venture — dubbed QuantumLight Capital — will be worth around $200 million, with funds supplied by Storonsky and other investors, Forbes reported on Tuesday.
"We are built as a technology company by a team of tech unicorn founders, quant traders, AI scientists and engineers," the QuantumLight website states. The fund will identify investment opportunities using a machine called Aleph as its "proprietary quantitative decision engine."
According to Forbes, QuantumLight will be focused mainly on Series B and Series C rounds, based on software which eliminates "human judgement." Storonsky argues that the model is designed to eliminate the clubby world of venture capital, where decisions are made through a crowd mentality.
The neobank founder has spent the last year building a team of data scientists and engineers to browse LinkedIn, corporate filings and other public databases in order to identify fast-growing startups. He will also hire in a CEO to head up the fund, according to the Forbes report.
The move comes at a time of global expansion for Revolut. In recent months it has acquired banking licenses in at least 10 European countries as it has touted adding new products to it roster, such as home loans and buy-now-pay-later.
It has also tussled with UK regulators over anti-money laundering requirements for its crypto products. It is still on the Financial Conduct Authority's so-called temporary register, alongside crypto custodian Copper and three other firms. The register is a stopgap measure the FCA created after missing an earlier deadline to green-light companies' operations. Their fate remains uncertain, but without full registration they could in theory be forced to stop crypto-related activities in the UK.