Quants worth following: Ben Orthlieb and Romain Serman

"Quants Worth Following" is our latest interview series highlighting thought leaders in the quantitative trading industry actively sharing their knowledge and resources with the community.

We're pleased to share our interview with Ben Orthlieb and Romain Serman, co-founders of 2 | Twelve, a quantitative early-stage venture capital firm.

Ben brings a rich strategy background, most recently serving as VP and Head of Corporate Development in M&A and Investments at LinkedIn, in addition to prior experience at Oracle Public Cloud, Boston Consulting Group, Barclays and BNP Paribas.

Romain was previously Director at Bpifrance, where he gained over a decade of experience in public sector investment banking. Prior to Bpifrance, Romain was a French diplomat and served as Consul General of France in San Francisco until 2014.

Together, Ben and Romain have built a venture firm inspired by hedge funds like Renaissance Technologies, using machine learning and data-driven processes to redefine early-stage VC.

Ben and Romain’s journey began over a decade ago at a card table, where their shared curiosity about data and tech sparked a vision. "We’ve always talked about how to use data in tech while investing in tech," Romain recalls. That vision crystallized into 2 | Twelve, a fund born from the realization that while VCs often champion technology and AI, few apply these tools to their own investment processes.

Ben’s experience at LinkedIn, collaborating with the data science team and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman to uncover early indicators of future success in startups. "It put us onto this idea of using AI and data signals for startup investing," Ben explains.

Ben and Romain's early work as scouts for Emergence Capital helped them see the bottlenecks in traditional VC processes. Every stage—sourcing, screening, due diligence, and final decision-making—consumes significant human hours and relies on subjective criteria. This stretches VCs thin, reducing the number of startups they can evaluate, constraining their total deal flow, and leaving less time to effectively support founders post-investment.

Unlike most early-stage VCs, who lean heavily on qualitative instincts, 2 | Twelve employs a suite of AI-powered tools to scale their investment process. "You can source thousands of people, screen thousands of people, reach out to thousands of people, all at the same time," Romain says.

Their flagship tool, "Agatha the Pre-Cog," analyzes founders from the outside in, generating two to three times more deal flow than peer VC firms and identifying the top 5% worth pursuing. With an estimated 70% market coverage, Agatha ensures Ben and Romain don't miss hidden gems. Other tools, like "DaVinci" (an AI associate for post-meeting analysis), "Kojak" (portfolio monitoring), and "Slash" (automation), round out their tech stack.

While Ben and Romain recognize the pros of their quantitative tools — scalability, efficiency, and a machine’s ability to ingest and recall vast amounts of data — they emphasize that human judgment remains critical, especially at the seed stage. "Humans like us are still better than machines to really understand what’s behind the brain," Romain says.

2 | Twelve's quantitative methodology defies the status quo. "We're pushing against a prevailing culture," Ben notes. "VC is often seen as a craft—we hear that nearly twice a day," Romain observes. Yet 2 | Twelve's results stand as testament to its approach. "We rank in the top 1 percent of funds from our vintage," Ben explains. "We don’t tout brilliance—just a solid, repeatable process designed to deliver the outcomes we’re achieving."

2 | Twelve’s LPs include a mix of VCs, tech operators, entrepreneurs, and quant-minded hedge fund managers. "When we do demos of our tools, they’re completely wowed," Ben says. Family offices with entrepreneurial or finance backgrounds also round out their investor base. Having just completed their first close in early 2025, they’re aiming for a second before summer and a final one by year-end.

The name "2 | Twelve" reflects their streamlined, founder-centric process: two Zoom meetings, with a decision delivered by 12 pm PST the next day. The first meeting covers the product and market; the second dives into the founders’ personalities and backgrounds. "It’s a question of respect," Romain explains. "The founder must be at the center of your processes."

Post-investment, 2 | Twelve’s founder-centric approach doesn’t stop. They respond to founder updates within 24 hours, curate investor lists for future rounds, and build a meaningful portfolio community with sales training and CEO coaching.

For aspiring fund managers, Romain says, "Your enemy is adverse selection." Without an established reputation, emerging VCs find themselves closed out of high-potential deals. This dynamic stems from founders often preferring well-known firms for big funding rounds, leaving newer players with a narrower pool of options. Ben adds, "The top 50 venture investors account for roughly 20% of all deals but secure 75% of the unicorns."

To counter this, 2 | Twelve adopted a deliberate strategy: they began with smaller investments. By writing modest checks, they avoided overexposure to less competitive opportunities, and built a track record over time.

Ben and Romain's second piece of advice emphasizes differentiation. New VCs should focus on delivering distinct value to entrepreneurs—such as specialized expertise, hands-on support, or access to niche networks. While investor perception matters, it’s relationships with founders that drive deal access and long-term success.

"Be unique, not just in the eyes of LPs, but in the eyes of the founders," says Romain.

Check out the full interview on our YouTube here. Stay tuned for more conversations with quants worth following!