Key Takeaways
- • Christina Qi founded hedge fund Domeyard as an MIT undergraduate, and at its peak the fund traded $7 billion in volume per day.
- • Domeyard shut down after what Qi describes as a "really bad year in 2020."
- • Qi co-founded and serves as CEO of Databento, a market data provider that raised $97 million in a Series B round in July, bringing total disclosed funding to about $127 million.
- • Databento has 70,000 customers, including Nvidia and OpenAI, and employs 38 people. Its annual recurring revenue is in the eight figures, according to head of quantitative analytics Lou Lindley.
- • Databento's valuation has not been disclosed. Qi says the company does not publish exact revenue figures because of heavy competition.
Summary
Christina Qi started a hedge fund, Domeyard, while still an undergraduate at MIT, according to the original profile. At its height, the fund traded about $7 billion in volume per day. A "really bad year in 2020" led to the fund's closure. Qi then co-founded Databento, where she serves as CEO, with the goal of becoming "the single source of truth for financial information," in her words.
Databento supplies market data to hedge funds and AI labs. The company now has 70,000 customers, including Nvidia and OpenAI. It raised $97 million in a Series B round in July, bringing its total disclosed funding to roughly $127 million. The valuation has not been made public. Earlier this year, head of quantitative analytics Lou Lindley disclosed that the company had reached eight-figure annual recurring revenue. Qi said revenue has grown "almost tenfold from a base well above single-digit millions," but she declined to share exact figures, citing the number of competitors in the industry.
Despite a customer base concentrated on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, Qi lives and works in Utah, her home state. The company's 38 employees work remotely. Qi has described her path from growing up on food stamps to running a venture-backed data company as something that "does feel like the American dream to an extent," according to the original profile, which was also covered by Entrepreneur.
Databento supplies market data to hedge funds and AI labs. The company now has 70,000 customers, including Nvidia and OpenAI. It raised $97 million in a Series B round in July, bringing its total disclosed funding to roughly $127 million. The valuation has not been made public. Earlier this year, head of quantitative analytics Lou Lindley disclosed that the company had reached eight-figure annual recurring revenue. Qi said revenue has grown "almost tenfold from a base well above single-digit millions," but she declined to share exact figures, citing the number of competitors in the industry.
Despite a customer base concentrated on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, Qi lives and works in Utah, her home state. The company's 38 employees work remotely. Qi has described her path from growing up on food stamps to running a venture-backed data company as something that "does feel like the American dream to an extent," according to the original profile, which was also covered by Entrepreneur.
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