LONDON, 1 April 2026 — XTX Markets, the leading algorithmic trading firm, today made a landmark commitment to the Global Talent Fund to build the world's largest scholarship programme for exceptional STEM students, bringing 150 of the world's most gifted young mathematicians and scientists to the world's top universities — transforming how exceptional talent is found, nurtured, and supported globally.
Around the world, many young people with exceptional mathematical and scientific ability are never discovered or given the opportunities needed to develop their talents and contribute to human progress. XTX Markets’ $40 million commitment to the Global Talent Fund — an organization dedicated to enabling exceptional talent — is aimed at changing that.
The multi-year funding will provide 150 of the world's most promising young mathematicians and scientists with scholarships at leading universities. It will also strengthen national Olympiad ecosystems across dozens of countries and expand research on how exceptional talent drives scientific discovery and technological progress.
Supporting the world’s most promising young scientists
The Global Talent Fund launched the BIG Talent Scholars programme in 2023 to identify exceptional young mathematicians and scientists worldwide and support them to study at leading universities. These scholars are primarily medalists at the world’s most demanding scientific competitions, including the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), and International Physics Olympiad (IPhO).
The first class of 30 scholars began their undergraduate studies in 2024, followed by 47 scholars in 2025.
Together, these students represent 32 countries across every continent. More than 80% of current scholars study at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, while others are studying at leading institutions including Imperial College London, the Universities of Warwick, Bristol, and Edinburgh in the UK, and École Polytechnique and École Normale Supérieure in France.
In recent years, roughly one in four International Mathematical Olympiad gold medalists worldwide have applied to or joined the programme. At Trinity College, Cambridge, one in three mathematics students who began in 2025 are BIG Talent Scholars. These figures illustrate the programme’s ability to attract some of the strongest young mathematicians in the world.
The new funding from XTX Markets will significantly expand the programme, enabling 50 new scholars per year for the next three cohorts starting in 2026.
At this scale, BIG Talent Scholars will become the largest global scholarship programme dedicated to exceptionally talented young scientists and mathematicians.
Finding talent the world currently misses
Every country invests heavily in systems to find and develop elite athletic talent. For science and mathematics, no equivalent exists in most of the world.
Some countries run large-scale STEM talent identification programmes, screening millions of students and training the most exceptional for competitions like the International Mathematical Olympiad — one of the strongest predictors of future scientific achievement. In many other countries, however, Olympiad systems are small volunteer efforts running on limited resources.
The Global Talent Fund works with educators and organisations in more than 50 countries through grants and partnerships — strengthening national talent pipelines, identifying promising students earlier, and providing advanced training opportunities. XTX Markets’ new funding will enable the Global Talent Fund to scale up this work, expanding talent identification and Olympiad preparation worldwide.
Advancing research on talent and innovation
Part of the new funding will also support the Global Talent Lab, which studies how exceptional scientific talent emerges and contributes to innovation and economic growth.
This work is helping develop the emerging field of Talent Economics examining questions such as how exceptional STEM talent develops, how high-potential students can be identified and nurtured earlier around the world, and how talent fuels scientific discovery, innovation, and economic growth.
The grant will also support new initiatives designed to build the field, including the creation of an annual London Talent Conference, a summer school in Talent Economics, and expand research activities such as workshops, postdoctoral fellowships, and research grants.
Alex Gerko, Founder and CEO of XTX Markets, said:
“International mathematics and science Olympiad medalists possess extraordinary potential to advance discovery, lead cutting edge research, and build the companies that shape our future, but often lack the opportunity to study at elite institutions. The BIG Talent Scholars programme removes that barrier by creating a pathway for these students to attend the world’s leading universities.
XTX Markets is pleased to make our largest-ever single grant to scale this effort and support the global talent ecosystem.”
Ruchir Agarwal and Patrick Gaule, Co-founders of the Global Talent Fund, said:
“Some of the most important scientific discoveries in history have come from a remarkably small number of individuals with exceptional mathematical and scientific ability. Yet around the world there are young people with extraordinary potential who never get the opportunity to develop their talents — and many are never even found.
With the support of XTX Markets, we are working to change that: by finding these students and helping them realise their full potential.”
