XTX founder Alex Gerko’s other interest: nature restoration
There seems to be a correlation between running an electronic trading firm and wanting to do good for the natural world. Electronic trading itself may not do much for ecosystems, but the profits generated can be deployed to good effect.
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As we’ve noted before, the founders of Quadrature, a London-based electronic trading firm, are investing $100m over a 10-year period into Quadrature Climate Foundation, a charity to tackle the causes of climate change.
44-year-old Alex Gerko, founder of electronic trading firm XTX, and fan of Rick and Morty and Cypress Hill, hasn’t yet been quite as forthcoming. But Gerko, who is also Britain's biggest taxpayer, has been doing his bit for the countryside all the same.
In 2022, Gerko donated £300k to the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in Scotland, a project to restore peatlands and woodlands and create a haven for wildlife.
A year earlier, Gerko spent £24m on Holmewood House, a subterranean building described as resembling the TeleTubbies hideaway set in a 150-acre estate in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Last December, Gerko fell foul of the local planning department when he constructed a “wildlife pond” without permission on the estate. The pond was given retrospective approval earlier this year after Gerko argued that it would create a significant “biodiversity gain.” Local residents countered that this would be difficult to determine as the biodiversity prior to the pond’s construction had not been assessed, but were defeated.
Gerko’s enthusiasm for flora and fauna alongside maths and AI might indicate an opening for investors with an environmental focus to work in his new family office, Cromulon Capital. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Cromulon will be managing Gerko's wealth, estimated at $11.4bn. Although Gerko's nature initiatives have so far been charitable, McKinsey noted in April that the demand for nature and biodiversity investments is growing, and that funds are investing in woodlands, restoring peatlands, and planting kelp.
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