Prolific fintech investor and QED Traders co-founder Frank Rotman mentioned Friday that he’ll transition to a accomplice emeritus function by yr’s finish to concentrate on founding his personal startups.
However these startups gained’t essentially be monetary know-how corporations. In a submit on X, Rotman — who helped begin QED in 2007 — declared that “the primary enterprise” that he plans “on getting out of the bottom is within the music trade.”
He wrote: “It’s simple to name me loopy for all the apparent causes, but it surely’s value reserving judgment till you be taught extra concerning the enterprise that’s advanced in my head and sat on the shelf for years. It will likely be enjoyable to construct and will truly make an enormous distinction to an trade that none of us might think about dwelling with out.”
Rotman began Alexandria, Virginia-based QED, which as we speak has $4 billion in property underneath administration, almost twenty years in the past with Nigel Morris and Caribou Honig. He led the agency’s funding in Credit score Karma and performed a job in QED’s investments in unicorns resembling GreenSky, Flywire, and SoFi. (The truth is, QED was the primary institutional cash into Credit score Karma.) Different corporations that the agency has backed embrace Creditas, Nubank, AvidXchange, and Bitso.
QED completely invests in corporations constructing monetary know-how on the pre-seed to Collection A phases.
Rotman, who goes by the deal with “The Fintech Junkie” on X, mentioned he’ll transition to his new function on January 1, 2026. He’ll proceed to serve in a part-time advisory function to QED over the approaching years.
Apart from founding music startups, Rotman mentioned he doubtless plans to jot down a e book centered round his “observations and frameworks for the startup and VC worlds.”
He wrote within the X submit: “This shouldn’t shock anybody who is aware of me – writing is my oxygen. I can’t think about a life with out it despite the fact that ChatGPT and Claude are higher writers than I’m.”
In a press release, QED Managing Companion Nigel Morris famous that he and Rotman had labored collectively for over 30 years — beforehand additionally at Capital One.
“Frank, at his core, is an entrepreneur and I’ve little doubt he’ll excel in his subsequent chapter,” he mentioned.
QED Traders’ accomplice Amias Gerety will likely be promoted to guide QED’s U.S. funding staff.
