XTX Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
XTX Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of XTX Markets, the London-headquartered algorithmic trading firm founded by Alex Gerko. Launched in 2017, the firm invests in technical founders who combine deep AI and machine learning expertise with a clear vision for solving real-world problems at scale. Its stated thesis: "The next generation-defining companies will be built by founders who thoughtfully harness AI development to solve real-world problems at scale." Investment focus spans infrastructure to healthcare, enterprise software to financial markets — anywhere AI can drive meaningful transformation. The firm leverages XTX Markets' in-house ML and quantitative research expertise as a value-add for portfolio companies, offering technical validation, infrastructure scaling support, go-to-market introductions, and engineering talent connections.
The venture business is organized into two arms: Ventures, which handles early-stage (seed to Series A) investing with an ML focus that is geography- and industry-agnostic, and Strategic Investments, which makes investments of any stage that are strategic to XTX Markets' role as a liquidity provider, typically in capital markets and fintech.
Stage Focus
Primary focus is late-seed through Series A. The firm describes its sweet spot as the growth phase between initial product validation and scale. Occasional outsized checks occur through the Strategic Investments arm — for example, XTX Ventures co-led Proxima Fusion's €411M growth round in July 2026 alongside East X Ventures, well beyond its typical early-stage range, reflecting the strategic/opportunistic side of the business.
Check Size
Typical investment is $500K–$5M per deal for the core Ventures program.
Lead Tendency
XTX Ventures frequently leads or co-leads rounds: it co-led Proxima Fusion's €411M financing (with East X Ventures), co-led SPhotonix's $4.5M pre-seed (with Creator Fund), co-led Kopa.ai's €2M seed (with Practica Capital), and co-led Iomed's €10M Series A (with Philips Ventures).
Recent Activity
The firm has been active through mid-2026:
- July 2026: Co-led Proxima Fusion's €411M ($469M) financing round (with East X Ventures; Google and RWE joined as strategic investors) to build Europe's commercial fusion-energy demonstrator.
- May 2026: Participated in Ethos's $22.75M Series A (led by a16z) for an AI-powered expert network.
- May 2026: Co-led Kopa.ai's €2M seed round (with Practica Capital) for an agentic AI operating system for e-commerce teams.
- April 2026: Portfolio company X-energy completed a $1.02B Nasdaq IPO (ticker: XE), the largest nuclear IPO on record.
- December 2025: Co-led SPhotonix's $4.5M pre-seed round (with Creator Fund) for 5D optical memory/data-storage technology.
Fund status: actively deploying, with the Proxima Fusion investment as the most recent signal (July 2026).
Portfolio Highlights
XTX Ventures has made roughly 77–79 investments since 2017 with 8 exits. Notable portfolio companies include Proxima Fusion (fusion energy), Kopa.ai (agentic AI for e-commerce), Ethos (AI expert network), Lucida Medical (AI-based prostate cancer detection, CE-marked), Turbine (AI cell-simulation platform for drug discovery, board seat held by XTX), Iomed (AI healthcare-data activation, board seat held by XTX), SPhotonix (5D optical data storage), DiA Imaging Analysis (AI ultrasound analysis), and WealthKernel (investment infrastructure). Notable exits include WealthKernel, DiA Imaging Analysis, FairX, and X-energy (Nasdaq IPO, April 2026).
Team
- Gabriele Papievyte, Head of Ventures — Joined XTX Ventures in August 2023 as an investment manager and was promoted to lead the unit. Previously an Investment Associate at Inovia Capital. Sits on the boards of portfolio companies Iomed and Turbine.
- Erwann Le Lannou, Partner — Partner at XTX Ventures.
- Zhenteng Shen, Investment Manager — Background from Imperial College London; based in London.
Decision Process
Small, centralized team (partner plus investment managers) operating within XTX Markets' corporate structure rather than a traditional multi-GP partnership fund — closer to a lean, partnership-style decision process backed by a single corporate LP (XTX Markets).
Founder Preferences
Technical founders with deep AI/ML expertise and a clear vision for solving real-world problems at scale, particularly those who have validated an initial product and are entering the growth phase.
Geographic Focus
XTX Ventures describes itself as geography-agnostic within its core Ventures program, with actual deployment concentrated in the UK, Europe (including Lithuania, Spain, Hungary, Germany), and the US, and selective activity in Asia.
Headquarters
14-18 Handyside Street, London, England, N1C 4DN, United Kingdom.