Operator’s manual: QED’s approach to investing in fintech

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 27:29) >  On this episode of McKinsey on Start-ups, our guest is Mike Packer, a partner at QED Investors, a boutique venture capital firm focused on the fast-growing fintech sector. QED was co-founded by Frank Rotman and Nigel Morris, who was one of the co-founders of Capital One, and QED has taken a similar, data-centric strategic approach to its investing in the next generation of financial services disruptors. With more than $3 billion under management, QED invests in the US and UK but also has a growing presence in Latin America and other emerging markets in Asia and Africa. It has backed well-known fintech players and unicorns, including Credit Karma, SoFi, NuBank and Remitly. Like QED founders as well as other partners, Packer has a background in financial services – at Capital One, where he spent ten years in a variety of roles, including running small business lending. It’s that kind of operational experience that QED believes gives it a distinct advantage in choosing its investments and taking an active role in helping them succeed. Underlying the firm’s philosophy is a belief it can help fintech startups increase their odds of success by reducing the number of contingent probabilities or dependencies involved in the business plan. QED calls this fighting the tyranny of .8 to the power of 5.

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