Abraham Thomas

Sabbatical at Personal

Abraham Thomas

Sabbatical at Personal

Toronto, Ontario

Overview

Work Experience

Private

Angel Investor
2015 - Current
I invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups, mostly B2B. My portfolio companies have gone on to raise subsequent financing from Sequoia, Tiger Global, Falcon Edge, GIC and more. I'm proud to be part of: • Daloopa: next-gen financial modelling data • Mero: sensors for smart buildings • Terra.do: skilling platform for the climate community • Setyl: asset management for offices • Canopy: data insights for property managers • BuyProperly: marketplace for fractional assets • Citylitics: infrastructure data-as-a-service • JobOffer: AI-powered job search • Getware: product intelligence using AI • Erly: distributed fulfillment network [EXIT] • Klanto: spend management platform • Requity: rent-to-own for newcomers to Canada • Syro: seamless secrets management • TriplePlay: remote culture through games [EXIT] • Arima: privacy-first marketing with synthetic data • Ubico: smart sales assistant • Alchemic: cross-platform tools for creators • Quandri: automation for insurance • FarmTheory: marketplace for ugly produce • Stragiliti: multimodal revenue management • Kordie: up-skilling the hospitality industry • Productive: an API to the content of your calls • Paperstack: financial OS for retail brands • REMS: data insights for restaurants • ResVR: VR sales tools for homebuilders • Cascade: modern seas for private credit • AdSparx: video advertising infrastructure [EXIT] • Doxper: digitizing health data • i2e1: internet for everyone, everywhere • Locus: last-mile logistics software [EXIT] • Mad Street Den: vision AI for retail • Wellthy: digital therapeutics

Personal

Sabbatical
2021
Getting ready for my next adventure!

Quandl

Founder and Chief Data Officer
2011 - 2021
Quandl is the world's leading alternative data company. Alternative data is data that has not traditionally been used by financial markets but holds untapped value for investors and analysts. From social media to satellite imagery, from transaction receipts to traffic patterns, from aircraft transponders to inter-company credit: there's valuable intelligence everywhere. Quandl pioneered the category of alternative data. Our data products are used by the world's leading hedge funds, asset managers, investment banks, fintech firms, and data-driven corporations. Quandl was the first Canadian firm ever to be listed in the Forbes Fintech 50; Inside Market Data recognized Quandl as "Alternative Data Provider of the Year" in 2018. As Quandl's Chief Data Officer, I built the team, processes and technology that Quandl uses to identify, evaluate, productize and deploy information advantages, drawing on my years of experience as an expert quantitative investor. I am also the co-founder of the company, and wear many hats in that role: strategy, product, marketing, sales, finance, legal, recruiting, and perhaps most importantly, vision and culture. Updates: Quandl was acquired by Nasdaq in 2018 in a successful and substantial exit. I moved on to the next chapter of my life in 2021.

Personal

Sabbatical
2007 - 2011
After leaving Simplex, I took an extended sabbatical. During this time, I travelled, spent time with my family, managed my personal investments, and advised a few hedge fund clients on quantitative investment strategy.

Simplex Asset Management

Portfolio Manager, Director & Head of US Trading
2003 - 2006
Simplex is a multi-billion-dollar asset manager and one of Asia’s oldest hedge funds. I joined Simplex as employee #7 in 1998, and rose up through the ranks as an analyst, trader, portfolio manager and director. I managed an absolute-return quant portfolio at Simplex from 1999 to 2006, generating a Sharpe ratio above 2 with no losing years. I was responsible for 100-250M of risk capital, typically leveraged 10-20x. As the head of US operations for Simplex, I also co-led the firm’s transition from a traditional “discretionary relative-value” approach to a modern “systematic statistical” approach, from concept to implementation to use.
Vice President, Rates Trading
2002 - 2002
I am an experienced quantitative investor, with a deep and intuitive understanding of capital markets, risk dynamics, macroeconomics, equity and bond pricing, market micro-structure, and modern data-driven investing. I became an expert bond trader in the post-LTCM, pre-GCF era. I also expanded my trading to encompass a wider variety of asset classes, markets and investment styles: model-driven alpha, statistical arbitrage, relative value, global macro, factor and premium capture, and more.
Associate, Rates Trading
1999 - 2002
I began my trading career in the Japanese fixed income market: JGBs, futures, swaps and interest rate options. I quickly moved over to US Treasuries, then as now one of the most heavily-traded and closely-watched markets in the world. If you can find an edge trading Treasuries, you can find an edge anywhere!
Quant Engineer
1998 - 1999
I built many of the systems used by the firm for analytics, pricing, execution and risk management, primarily in C++. I coded state-of-the-art models for interest rate, option and futures arbitrage; end-to-end data pipelines, from raw prices to trader-facing execution screens; and complex mark-to-market, risk exposure and liquidity management infrastructure.

Abraham Thomas

My Life in Bullet Points
1977 - 1998
• Born in a small town in south India. Lived for a time in Kuwait as part of the Indian diaspora. • At age 13, escaped the Iraqi invasion via desert caravan, cargo ferry and airlift. • Studied Engineering Physics at IIT Bombay. Graduated with a B.Tech. in 1998. • Joined a Japanese hedge fund. Spent 4 years in Tokyo as a programmer, analyst and trader. • Moved to Princeton as portfolio manager and head of US trading for the same fund. • Exited positions and returned capital to investors at high water mark in 2007. • Sabbatical: travelling, parenthood, personal investing, and consulting. • Moved to Toronto and founded a financial data tech startup: Quandl. • Grew Quandl from inception (2 founders in a basement) to exit (acquisition by Nasdaq). • Today: investing, advising, consulting, writing and exploring, prior to my next adventure!