What QUIC does

QUIC (Queen's University Investment Counsel) is a student-run undergraduate investment fund operating as an Educational Program of the Smith School of Business at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2003 as the Queen's University Investment Club, the organization rebranded in 2010 after receiving $500,000 in seed funding from the Smith School of Business and transitioned from managing a mock portfolio to managing real capital. QUIC oversees $3.2M in assets across two long-only equities portfolios — the QUIC Canadian Fund and the QUIC-Mackenzie World Investment Fund — organized into seven sector teams covering Financial Institutions, Industrials, Energy & Utilities, Healthcare, Consumers, Metals & Mining, and TMT, with a value-centric, bottom-up investment approach.

The fund has 35 student members selected through a competitive recruitment process, and reports a 207-member alumni network with 67 alumni placed at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Blackstone, Evercore, or Moelis, and 27 alumni in elite MBA programs. Capital has been provided in two tranches: $500,000 from Smith School of Business in 2010 and $500,000 from Mackenzie Investments in 2014. The fund's reported performance metrics include 16.9% Fund Alpha Since Inception, plus strong recent sector returns of 35.7% in Canadian Consumer, 36.4% in Healthcare, and 57.0% in Metals and Mining over the past year.

QUIC is not structured as a traditional revenue-generating company. It is an educational program with no management fees, no paid product, and no commercialization. Its revenue model is effectively endowed capital from a university and a single institutional partner, with operating support from the Smith School of Business. The go-to-market is community-led (campus recruitment) supplemented by event-driven outreach (stock pitch competitions, speaker series, and partnerships with Burgundy Asset Management, Morgan Stanley, RBC, and Capitalize for Kids). The customer base is effectively two institutional LPs (Queen's Endowment Fund and Mackenzie Investments), while the primary beneficiary segment is Queen's University undergraduate students seeking finance career pipeline access.

Name

QUIC

Legal name

Queen's University Investment Counsel

Website

https://quiconline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

QUIC is a student-run undergraduate investment fund at Queen's University's Smith School of Business that manages $3.2M in long-only Canadian and US equities across seven sector teams, serving 35 student members and producing a pipeline of finance talent to top-tier investment banks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Student-Managed Investment Fund

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Institutional Consulting RIAs (OCIO/Endowments/Foundations/Pensions) (FSAAACAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Portfolio Management–Led RIAs (Discretionary/Model-Based) (FSAAACAC)

Keywords

• Student-managed investment fund
• Equity portfolio management
• Long-only equities
• Undergraduate finance program
• Asset management education

Headquarters

HQ city

Kingston

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Endowment Fund Management: QUIC manages a $3.2M portfolio on behalf of the Queen's Endowment Fund, operating a long-only Canadian and US equities portfolio. The organization receives seed funding and ongoing support from the Smith School of Business.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

QUIC manages $3.2M in long-only Canadian and US equities portfolios through two distinct funds (the QUIC Canadian Fund on behalf of the Queen's Endowment Fund and the QUIC-Mackenzie World Investment Fund on behalf of Mackenzie Investments). The fund is operated by 35 student members organized into seven sector teams, providing hands-on portfolio management of real capital as an educational program within Queen's University's Smith School of Business. QUIC also recruits new student analysts through a Junior Analyst Hiring Program and publishes Annual Reports documenting portfolio performance.

Product overview

QUIC is Canada’s premier undergraduate investment fund operating as a single unified offering—two long-only equities portfolios (Canadian and US/global via the QUIC-Mackenzie World Investment Fund) managed by seven sector teams. The Canadian Portfolio manages assets on behalf of the Queen's Endowment Fund across seven investment sectors: Financial Institutions, Industrials, Energy & Utilities, Healthcare, Consumers, Metals & Mining, and Technology/Media/Telecom (TMT). The US Portfolio (established 2014 with Mackenzie Investments) focuses on global equities. Beyond portfolio management, QUIC offers a Junior Analyst Hiring Program recruiting undergraduate students and publishes Annual Reports documenting performance. All investments are Canadian and US equities with a value-centric, bottom-up investment approach.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• QUIC Canadian Fund: The Canadian portfolio of QUIC, managing Canadian and US equities with a long-only strategy.
• QUIC-Mackenzie World Investment Fund

Products and services

• QUIC Canadian Fund Long-only Canadian equities portfolio operated on behalf of the Queen's Endowment Fund, managed across seven sector teams covering Financial Institutions, Industrials, Energy & Utilities, Healthcare, Consumers, Metals & Mining, and Technology/Media/Telecom (TMT). The fund integrates macroeconomic, sector-related, and company-specific knowledge using a value-centric, bottom-up investment approach.
• QUIC-Mackenzie World Investment Fund Global equities portfolio established in 2014 with funding from Mackenzie Investments, focusing on international and US equities managed using QUIC's long-only, bottom-up investment approach.
• Junior Analyst Hiring Program Annual recruitment program for Queen's University undergraduate students to join QUIC as Junior Analysts in the COMM '28 class, providing hands-on investment experience across the seven sector teams and a structured pathway to portfolio management and finance industry careers.
• QUIC Annual Reports Published fiscal-year reports documenting QUIC's portfolio performance, investment strategies, sector analyses, and member accomplishments, made available to stakeholders including the Queen's Endowment Fund, Mackenzie Investments, the Board of Directors, and the Alumni Council.

Quantifiable outcome

• 16.9% Fund Alpha Since Inception
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Morgan StanleycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Morgan Stanley partnered with QUIC to judge the Deal Competition where QUIC Analysts act as mock advisors on real-world M&A transactions and present to Morgan Stanley Investment Banking Professionals.
• Smith School of BusinesscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerQUIC is an Educational Program of the Smith School of Business. A Board of Directors consisting of faculty and staff oversees the fund's investments and provides guidance to the Counsel executive. The school provided the initial $500,000 seed funding in 2010.
• Burgundy Asset ManagementflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to run the Women in Investing Series open to students of all faculties, and to judge internal stock pitch competitions. Toronto-based asset manager with over $30 billion AUM.
• RBCcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRBC sponsors QUIC's annual Stock Pitch Competition giving 1st and 2nd year Queen's students the opportunity to pitch stocks to RBC professionals in Toronto.
• Capitalize for KidsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation Program partner with participating firms including Greylock Partners, Altas Partners, Blackstone, General Atlantic, Bain & Co., and Summit Partners running workshops for QUIC Executive Team.
• CREO SolutionsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual collaboration with Queen's premier consulting organization to run an open-forum panel featuring students entering investment banking and consulting fields.
• Bay Street GamesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerQUIC is a regular participant in the Bay Street Games, a fitness challenge between top Toronto firms to raise money for kids' mental health.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Rotman Commerce Investment Management Group: University of Toronto student investment organization in a Canadian business school setting. Comparable in target student persona, recruiting process, and alumni pipeline into Canadian investment banks and Bay Street firms.
• University of Toronto Investment Club: Canadian student-run investment organization in the same recruiting market as QUIC, competing for top undergraduate talent at a peer institution. Strong adjacency for benchmarking membership, alumni outcomes, and recruitment dynamics.

Broad incumbents

• Mackenzie Investments: Major Canadian asset manager and direct capital partner of QUIC since 2014 ($500K donation). Operates at vastly larger scale but provides direct adjacency on Canadian equity portfolio management and the institutional partnership model QUIC depends on.
• Burgundy Asset Management: Toronto-based boutique asset manager ($30B+ AUM) and Flagship QUIC partner running the Women in Investing Series. Comparable Canadian-focused equity mandate and provides the institutional sponsor template relevant to QUIC's growth path.
• University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO): External investment corporation managing the University of Texas and Texas A&M endowments. While professionally staffed rather than student-run, UTIMCO provides institutional endowment-management comparability relevant to QUIC's $3.2M AUM mandate.
• MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo): Office managing MIT's endowment and related institutional capital. Though professionally staffed, it represents the institutional endowment-management benchmark against which any student-managed fund is implicitly measured.

Direct peers

• Columbia Investment Management Association (CIMA): Student-managed equity fund at Columbia Business School applying a long-only, sector-based approach. Comparable to QUIC in structure, mandate, and alumni pipeline into top investment banks.
• Burlington Capital / University of Nebraska Student Investment Fund (SIF): Long-standing student-managed investment fund within a U.S. university setting. Comparable mandate (long-only equities with sector coverage) and educational programming structure mirror QUIC.
• Wharton Investment Management Company (WIMC): Student-run investment fund at the Wharton School managing real capital, with alumni placement at top-tier banks and buy-side firms — directly analogous to QUIC's model in a U.S. context and the closest comparable peer.

Others

• Capitalize for Kids: Canadian educational program supported by firms including Greylock, Altas, Blackstone, Bain, and Summit Partners. Direct QUIC partner running executive-team workshops — adjacent ecosystem player shaping Canadian undergraduate finance talent.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/quiconline
• Facebookfacebook.com/quiconline

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about QUIC