£
1,500,000
profit
£
750,000
pledged
£
325,000
redistributed
We shift wealth from financial markets to nonprofit organisations and charitable initiatives.
Our Business
We trade in financial markets, generating profits which we redirect to good causes. We give the vast majority of our company profits to charities and socially impactful organisations.
Our automated systems combine machine learning and prior knowledge of the markets to predict opportunity together with uncertainty, delivering high return on company capital. The business is wholly funded by this return.
Our Ethos
We believe that the financial industry is grossly overcompensated compared to other jobs of similar academic and technical requirements. In a playing field with so many wealthy companies and individuals, exploiting market inefficiencies leads to large profits which filter down the organization in the form of extreme bonuses and high salaries. This system takes highly skilled individuals out of roles that can benefit society more directly.
We wish to take a more direct approach - take a fair and reasonable salary, but eschew the extreme bonuses. Instead we will redirect the excess trading profits to social causes where it will have an exponential effect. The focus of our business is on maximising social impact, rather than profit - and we hope to set an example for the industry.
Transparency is of the highest value to us - we want to be held accountable to our donation goals and our investment sources. We are entirely funded by company capital, and will only consider external investment with a high level of discretion.
Our Impact
Since our business began trading in 2019, we have made profits of over £1.5 million into 2023, with a current gross annual return of around 50%. Of this profit, we have directly pledged £325,000 to socially impactful organisations, comprising £250,000 in donations to charities and £75,000 in pledged low-cost financing for impactful initiatives. We have retained £750,000 of profit in the business for reinvestment, and eventual donation. We have paid roughly £32,000 per director, per year in dividends.
We are still developing our approach to giving, and currently focus on the areas of climate change and inequality.
Our beneficiaries thus far include
We make no effort to avoid taxation and pay full corporate tax every year on our profits. We believe this is one of the most important ways to contribute to social impact. We are proud to have paid over £250,000 in tax to date.
Mark Waddoups, Co-Founder
Working at the intersection of state-of-the-art research and specific financial knowledge gives us a unique opportunity to drive real social change.
Mark worked as a derivatives trader for five years prior to jointly founding Bayesian Shift. Trading provided savings to begin the business, but also highlighted the pay imbalances between his colleagues and the general population. He wanted to take his skills and apply them in a way that benefits wider society.
He is interested in economics, politics, Bayesian modelling and software development. He lives in Glasgow and spends a lot of time climbing in the mountains.
Tennessee Hickling, Co-Founder
I want to use my skills and energy to deliver broad benefits to society.
Tennessee is currently studying for a PhD in generative models in the presence of extremes at the University of Bristol. Past research experience includes novel inference techniques for sequential and graph data. He also has experience taking data analytics projects from PoC to production, having delivered a machine learning backed product to thousands of end users whilst working for an IT consultancy.
Founding Bayesian Shift provided a way to satisfy his passion for machine learning without sacrificing his social consciousness. Moving forward he has an interest in new economic models that can support innovation in a sustainable manner.