QED named to Inc.’s 2023 list of founder-friendly investors

QED Investors has been named to Inc.’s annual Founder-Friendly Investors list, honoring the venture capital firms with the best track record of success backing entrepreneurs.

The list recognizes firms that remain actively involved with the businesses in which they invest, and that have earned the trust of the entrepreneurs they support to help drive growth.

“It’s a terrific stamp of approval from our portfolio companies to again be named to Inc.’s list of founder-friendly investors,” said QED Investors Managing Partner, Nigel Morris. “‘Founder-friendly’ means different things to different people. Frank Rotman and I built QED on the premise of using our decades of combined experience as operators to provide entrepreneurs with the best advice they can get. That ethos permeates throughout our team, and it’s why we’re laser-focused entirely on fintech and only fintech – a specialist niche we know as well as any other VC in the world."

QED has exclusively invested in fintech since its inception in 2007 and has played a crucial part in the growth of some of today’s fintech behemoths including Credit Karma (QED led its Series A round in 2009), Remitly (QED led its Series A in 2014), Nubank (QED participated in its Series A in 2014) and AvidXchange (QED participated in its Series B in 2014).

“To us, ‘founder-friendly’ doesn’t mean giving term sheets at the highest valuations or simply funding companies whenever a CEO reaches out. It means being a diligent partner, often for eight or 10 years, and working hands-on in a consigliere role to help founders navigate the pitfalls they may not even know exist.”

QED has been a leader in the fintech investing community throughout fintech’s evolution, having guided and grown these companies and others through the ecosystem’s boom. QED has invested in more than 200 companies across 18 countries worldwide, backing a total of 29 unicorns, the majority of which were at the pre-seed, seed or Series A stage.

To compile the list, Inc. spoke directly with venture-backed entrepreneurs. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital, and debt firms and shared data on how their portfolio companies have grown during these partnerships.

To see the complete list, click here.