In the bustling landscape of investment management, SDI Partners stands out as a beacon of innovation and efficiency, transforming a traditionally sluggish industry through cutting-edge artificial intelligence. Founded in 2022 by David Rosenberg, Andrew Katz, and Amit Iyer, this quantitative hedge fund eschews the frenetic trading floors of lore in favour of a sleek London office, where supercomputers silently execute trades at lightning speed, performing 200 quadrillion calculations per second. Their early bet on AI technology has not only paid off but has propelled them into the upper echelons of hedge fund performance, with the SDI Accredited Partner Fund achieving a phenomenal 387.18 percent return in 2024.

At the heart of SDI Partners’ success is their commitment to a seamless, digital-first experience that addresses long-standing inefficiencies in traditional investment firms. Clients worldwide benefit from near-instant account openings via digital verification, straightforward fund management through an intuitive platform, and real-time performance tracking. This contrasts sharply with legacy firms, still mired in slow onboarding processes and cumbersome paperwork. Rosenberg emphasises that their competitive edge lies in leveraging advanced AI algorithms—employing deep learning, supervised learning, and reinforcement learning—to digest millions of data points continuously, enabling trades to be executed at optimal prices with precision no human trader could match.

SDI’s growth trajectory is rapid and ambitious, scaling from a modest trading team to over 150 staff in less than three years. Their expert roster, drawn from prestigious institutions like Oxford, UCL, and MIT, fuels algorithmic refinement and real-time adaptation to shifting markets. Their supercomputing prowess supports global market-making and liquidity provision across multiple asset classes, including equity, commodities, forex, and fixed income. The continuous feedback loop of data generation and machine learning enhancement underpins a strategy designed not just to react but to anticipate market patterns, optimising capital deployment with remarkable consistency.

The firm’s outstanding performance is equally matched by its disciplined risk management and investor-friendly fee structure. Independent auditors in late 2024 rated their risk profile as “safe and regulatory compliant with moderate risk,” thanks to rigorous protocols covering market, operational, automated trading, and compliance risks. Partner funds are securely held with insured custodians and segregated from corporate activities. Unlike many traditional hedge funds, SDI Partners forgoes management fees, instead aligning their success directly with that of their clients by taking only performance fees on actual profits.

Various SDI funds underline the firm’s consistent excellence. The Basic Partner Fund, launched in January 2024 with assets near $90 million, was ranked the top-performing fund in the options strategies category by BarclayHedge, delivering an impressive 109.84 percent return—dramatically outpacing the S&P 500’s 23 percent gain in the same period. The Accredited Partner Fund similarly boasted gains exceeding 169 percent in 2024, with assets climbing to over $460 million, focusing on systematic, quantitative, and arbitrage strategies driven by AI and machine learning. These figures exemplify SDI’s ability to deliver market-leading returns without succumbing to excessive risk.

SDI Partners’ ascent challenges the entrenched investment management paradigm, proving that intelligence and agility—fueled by sophisticated AI infrastructure—can outstrip size and legacy. Their ambition is clear: to redefine investment management for the digital age by continuously pushing the boundaries of technology to generate sustainable, above-market returns. As the wider industry grapples with clunky legacy systems, SDI Partners appears to have firmly established itself as a frontrunner in the future of investing.

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Source: Noah Wire Services