Ilya Kondrashov

Background

Ilya Kondrashov is the CEO and co-founder of QuantumLight, a London-based venture capital firm he co-founded with Nik Storonsky, the founder and CEO of Revolut ¹. Kondrashov holds a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge (2004–2007) ². He began his career as an intern at Morgan Stanley in 2005 and then worked as an analyst in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division from 2008 to 2011 ².

In 2010, Kondrashov co-founded MarketInvoice (later rebranded to MarketFinance and then Kriya), a European B2B payments and buy-now-pay-later company ³. At Kriya, he managed multiple functions including risk, product, tech, finance, legal and compliance, operations, and marketing ². The company processed over £30 billion in payments ⁴. Kondrashov stepped down from Kriya in October 2022 ².

Kondrashov met Storonsky before the pandemic at a London entrepreneur dinner and reconnected as Storonsky was building QuantumLight in 2022 ⁵. He joined as CEO of QuantumLight in September 2022 ². He was 38 years old as of the InvestmentNews profile in late 2024 ⁵.

Stated Thesis

Kondrashov publicly positions QuantumLight as “the first truly systematic venture capital and growth equity firm” ⁴. He has stated that the firm was founded to address what he sees as fundamental flaws in traditional venture capital:

“We saw the flaws in classic venture capital: it’s an emotional market where investors often chase hype.” ⁶

Kondrashov emphasizes that QuantumLight’s approach replaces emotional decision-making with data-driven analysis through their proprietary AI system called Aleph, which analyzes over 10 billion data points across 700,000+ venture-backed companies ⁴. The system evaluates over 60,000 companies across 300+ parameters including financial metrics, headcount growth, and traffic data ⁶. All investment decisions since the firm’s first deal in July 2023 have been recommended by Aleph ⁷.

Kondrashov has stated that the firm provides operational value beyond capital: “We don’t just provide capital; we help companies build processes at the level of world leaders and provide a growth boost that money simply cannot buy” ⁶. The firm publishes operational playbooks drawing on Storonsky’s experience scaling Revolut, including frameworks for hiring and performance management ⁷.

On deal access, Kondrashov has stated: “In Europe, we have no trouble accessing the best deals. Thanks to the Revolut brand and our ability to help startups find customers, we get into the most competitive rounds” ⁶.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 18 verified portfolio investments, the following patterns emerge:

Sector distribution: Fintech dominates the portfolio. Of 18 verified investments: 7 fintech (Aspora, Sipay, Midas, NG.Cash, Mesh, Ben, Monta — 39%), 4 AI/ML infrastructure (Rad AI, MarqVision, Robin AI, Lovable — 22%), 2 healthtech (DeepScribe, Function Health — 11%), 2 Web3/crypto (Blockaid, Mesh — 11%), 1 energy (Fuse Energy — 6%), 1 B2B SaaS (HockeyStack — 6%), 1 legaltech (Robin AI — counted in AI above). Note: Mesh spans fintech and Web3. The heavy fintech weighting is consistent with the Revolut connection, though the stated thesis lists AI, Web3, Fintech, SaaS, and Healthtech without indicating a hierarchy.

Stage distribution: The fund invests primarily at Series A and Series B. Of 18 verified investments with round data: 2 Series A (Robin AI, HockeyStack — 11%), 12 Series B (Aspora, Sipay, Midas, NG.Cash, Monta, Ben, Fuse Energy, Blockaid, Rad AI, Function Health, Lovable, MarqVision — 67%), and 4 with unverified round details (DeepScribe, Builder.io, Ghost, Vibe — 22%). This is a growth-stage fund, not an early-stage fund.

Geographic distribution: Of 18 verified investments: 6 based in the US (Rad AI, DeepScribe, Function Health, MarqVision, Builder.io, Mesh — 33%), 5 in the UK/Europe (Robin AI, Ben, Fuse Energy, Monta, HockeyStack — 28%), 2 in Turkey (Sipay, Midas — 11%), 1 in Brazil (NG.Cash — 6%), 1 in Sweden (Lovable — 6%), and 3 with unclear primary location. The fund is genuinely global, with meaningful exposure to emerging-market fintech (Turkey, Brazil).

Check size: Kondrashov has stated the fund invests approximately $5 million per deal ⁵, with a stated range of $3M–$50M ⁸. Given the $250M fund size across 28 total investments, the average check would be approximately $9M.

Investment pace: Kondrashov stated they expect “roughly a deal a month” for the next three years ⁵. The fund made its first deal in July 2023 ⁵ and has deployed $185M of $250M as of mid-2025 ⁶.

Co-investor patterns: The portfolio shows frequent co-investment with top-tier firms: Sequoia and Greylock (Aspora), Accel and Creandum (Lovable), Temasek (Robin AI), QED Investors (Midas), NEA and a16z (NG.Cash), Bessemer (HockeyStack), Ribbit Capital (Blockaid), Redpoint and a16z (Function Health). This suggests QuantumLight secures allocation in competitive rounds.

Notable pattern — Revolut alumni and network: Fuse Energy was founded by former Revolut executives ⁹. The Revolut connection appears to be both a sourcing advantage and a value-add channel for portfolio companies.

Fund II is raising: Kondrashov disclosed a $400M target for Fund II, with $300M+ raised and a 30% net IRR target ⁶. The fund plans to invest in Series C opportunities alongside earlier stages ⁶. A $100M founder commitment (20% of the fund) signals strong GP skin in the game ⁶.

Portfolio

This table represents 18 of approximately 28 total investments disclosed on the firm’s website ⁴. The remaining ~10 investments could not be independently verified with specific round details.

In Their Own Words

“We saw the flaws in classic venture capital: it’s an emotional market where investors often chase hype.” — Ilya Kondrashov, Raison interview ⁶

“In Europe, we have no trouble accessing the best deals. Thanks to the Revolut brand and our ability to help startups find customers, we get into the most competitive rounds.” — Ilya Kondrashov, Raison interview ⁶

“We don’t just provide capital; we help companies build processes at the level of world leaders and provide a growth boost that money simply cannot buy.” — Ilya Kondrashov, Raison interview ⁶

“The difference between the best and worst partner in venture capital is like the difference between a pro footballer and a novice.” — Ilya Kondrashov, Raison interview ⁶

“We look quite different compared to a traditional venture firm. It’s pretty logical that something like what we are doing will exist.” — Ilya Kondrashov, InvestmentNews ⁵

“Our goal is to make invisible operating systems behind iconic companies like Revolut visible and replicable.” — Ilya Kondrashov, GlobeNewsWire press release ⁷

“He’s not going to let you relax.” — Ilya Kondrashov, on working with Nik Storonsky, Sifted ¹

What Founders Say

Mark Lee, Founder and CEO of MarqVision, stated: “QuantumLight’s frameworks around hiring helped us bring structure and consistency to how we evaluate candidates. Leveraging the talent framework and interview playbooks gave us a clear starting point and helped us accelerate our hiring efforts. It’s been valuable to learn from the systems that helped scale Revolut into a global company.” ⁷

On Robin AI, Kondrashov provided an investor statement rather than a founder quote: “Robin AI has built a great team and product and have developed an impressive record of acquiring major enterprise accounts in a short period of time” ¹⁰. This is an investor statement, not a founder testimonial.

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found beyond the MarqVision quote above.

Sources