Rob Hodgkinson is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of SignalRank, a data-driven venture platform identifying and investing in the world’s top 5% of Series B rounds through pro-rata financing. With a career spanning investment banking, growth equity, and operator roles at TVPlayer, Antenna Group, and more, he brings a rare blend of quant-driven rigor and on-the-ground startup experience. His background—from Cambridge history major to INSEAD MBA to venture quant—shapes a worldview that bridges human judgment with systematic investing.

With deep experience raising and deploying capital across continents, Rob offers insights into venture persistence, pro-rata dynamics, market access, and why Series B is the “Goldilocks” stage for risk-adjusted returns. In this episode, he breaks down the origins of SignalRank, how a quant lens uncovers hidden patterns in venture, and why democratizing access to elite Silicon Valley rounds could reshape the broader asset class.

In this episode, he discusses the structural gaps in Series B funding, the limitations of traditional VC models, the rise of passive strategies in private markets, and how SignalRank moves faster than traditional funds—all while reducing adverse selection through its unique “horse-trainer” investor-based algorithm.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Meet Rob Hodgkinson & SignalRank

00:47 From History Major to Venture Capital

01:26 Early Exposure to African VC

02:30 The Banking Detour

03:28 Lessons in Risk and People

04:08 The Series B Pain Point

05:09 Europe-to-US Founder Migration

06:20 The Pro Rata Gap

07:45 Meeting His Co-Founder

08:26 Building Global Access

09:03 Legal vs. Relationship Pro Rata

10:15 The Series B Landscape

11:17 More Participants, More Access

12:15 Ranking Investors, Not Companies

13:10 Persistence and Pattern Recognition

14:44 Eliminating Zeros

16:40 People Readers vs. Scale Readers

17:34 Lessons from Fraud Patterns

18:02 Why a Delaware C-Corp

18:59 Could Seed Funds Do This?

20:33 Operational Leverage

21:10 One of the Most Active B Investors

22:12 Expense Ratios & Incentives

23:59 Liquidity Before Listing

24:48 Raising at NAV

25:37 Why LPs Avoid C-Corps

26:44 Selling Access, Not Exposure

27:21 Rise of Liquid Alternatives

27:46 Speed as an Edge

29:17 Term Sheet Red Flags

30:14 The Top 5% Sectors

31:18 Partnering With SignalRank

32:46 Just Text the Term Sheet

33:10 Check Sizes Today

34:06 Is VC Breaking or Evolving?

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