ICL launches $124,000 student-run fund

Imperial College London has launched a £100,000 ($124,000) equity investment fund to be run by students from its business school, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
The fund was seeded by the university endowment but operates independently, making it the first independent student-run VC vehicle in the UK.
It will invest up to $49,800 in the current academic year, with the remaining budget and future donations passing to the next set of students on the program.
So far, as many as 80 students have been involved with the fund, which is divided into market-neutral equities and a quantitatively-managed portfolio where investors aim for better-than-average returns by balancing overweight and underweight assets.  The latter portfolio will be managed by computer science students at Imperial College Business School.
ICL’s student fund has already exhausted about $12,400 on nine publicly-listed stocks in Europe in addition to two exchange-traded funds to hedge its positions.  The only other student-led university VC vehicle in the UK is University of York’s $16,100 Griff Investment Fund, which operates under the university endowment.
Bálint Geiger, co-chief investment officer of the fund, said: “Our fund is unique as it is an actual investment organisation under Imperial College Business School, possessing the organisational, infrastructural and legal background and the necessary institutional accounts for trading and investment with real money.”