Key facts
- WorldQuant's International Quant Championship saw registrations nearly double to 156,000 this year.
- Approximately 80,000 people registered for the contest in 2025.
- Victor Ayebameru, a student from Nigeria, won first place.
- Over 40,000 women participated in the contest.
- About 28% of participants came from Africa.
- There was a notable increase in solo participation this year.
WorldQuant, a spin-off of Millennium Management, reported a significant increase in participation for its annual International Quant Championship, with registrations nearly doubling to 156,000 this year, up from approximately 80,000 in 2025. The firm attributes this surge to the wider adoption of artificial intelligence tools, which have made it easier for university students to develop trading models and lower the entry barriers into quantitative finance.
Victor Ayebameru, a student from Adekunle Ajasin University in Nigeria, secured first place, underscoring how AI is democratizing access to quantitative trading. The contest also saw a notable increase in solo participants and a strong showing from underrepresented groups, with over 40,000 women participating and approximately 28% of all participants hailing from Africa, according to Nitish Maini, chief strategy officer at WorldQuant.
Globally, hedge funds managing over $1 billion in assets experienced substantial growth, with their combined assets rising by more than 19% to a record $4.05 trillion by the end of 2025. Quant-focused funds, in particular, posted average asset growth of 30% over the same period, according to data from With Intelligence.