Marcus Richards
BlackBoar is a UK based investment fund managed by a driven group of students from several top universities. We strive to enhance students’ knowledge of the financial markets by testing their skills within a buy-side setting working with real capital in order to prepare them for a career in finance. In 2022, we are determined to outperform the market whilst simultaneously gaining the experience required to grow the fund exponentially.
Currently structured as a single, open-ended fund, focused on liquid asset strategies, our investment strategy targets marketable equity securities across various sectors. Our fund managers currently specialise in 8 sectors: TMT, Healthcare, Industrials, Energy, Financial Institutions, Aerospace & Transportation, Consumer Discretionary and Real Estate.
Furthermore, our team produces weekly articles covering insightful and relevant issues within the realm of economics and finance. Alongside these articles, our analysts publish statistic-based market analysis focusing on recent macroeconomic trends.
Tell us about yourself?
I was born and brought up in Geneva, Switzerland before coming to London for university. I am now a final-year student in Mathematics and Economics at the London School of Economics. My professional experience revolves mainly around three internships: one in private banking and two at a family office in Geneva.
This was really the driving force behind some of the key decisions made during the process of setting up the fund. In my free time, I play football and recently started boxing.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Keep building and growing. Competition in this saturated market of student funds is high, and students are generally quite busy so putting in the hours for our fund is at the bottom of the priority list. To keep our analysts motivated, we need to continuously come up with new projects to add excitement and make the work worthwhile.
What problem does your business solve?
Many students want to break into the finance industry but don’t quite understand what it entails. Our fund aims to provide real-life experience to motivated individuals to give a taste of what a career in asset management is like.
We provide analysts access to real capital and give guidance on how to research public companies and perform fundamental qualitative and quantitive analysis.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
At the start of the Covid pandemic, like many other young adults, us five partners opened our own investment accounts and started experimenting with the markets. After a few months of trial and error, we realised that having a team of analysts creating reports and working towards a common goal would yield far better results.
Moreover, it’ll give the opportunity to university students across the world to work directly with the markets, get feedback from those who have experience, and network with each other. As a result, BlackBoar Capital was founded.
What is your magic sauce?
Although there are many student funds across the UK, we aim to differentiate ourselves through constant innovation. We seek to undertake various projects in areas that we believe are pivotal in the future of finance. Examples include setting up an automated trading sector, creating an ESG division to monitor investments and develop a framework, and initiating stock-picking competitions.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Our main objective is to have a significant amount of outside funding within the next five years. We are currently in the process of obtaining the relevant licenses to manage outside capital. We are also working to appoint a board of directors consisting of experienced professionals in the industry. We hope that once this is established, we will be able to attract outside investors. In addition, we hope to increase our team from 40 to around 100, working across 10 different sectors. Lastly, we hope to have set up a quant trading team that uses algorithms to predict market behaviours and automatically execute trades.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The biggest challenge we have faced so far is obtaining outside funding. After all, we are just students. We hope that by demonstrating financial maturity, strong organisation skills, and continuous communication, we will be able to prove to our investors that their capital is in safe hands.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
The hardest part of any student fund is keeping the analysts motivated and eager. I believe the best way to keep our analysts engaged is through passion. Passion is contagious – if you’re passionate and excited about your projects, those around you will feel it and will also be more motivated. By demonstrating a belief in our project and through continuously communicating with our analysts, we keep motivation high in our fund. Additionally, we seek to always come up with new projects that enable networking opportunities between sectors, providing further incentive for our analysts to remain engaged.
