Top 10 Quant Funds in India, the UK and Europe in 2027

By Alex Morgan · 14 November 2026

Systematic managers enter 2027 with real momentum. A global bond sell-off in 2026 rewarded trend-following and macro models, and investors followed the returns: Man Group alone took in $10.1bn of net inflows in the third quarter, lifting assets to a record $270.9bn.

This article names ten quant funds and managers to watch in 2027: three in India, four in the UK and three in continental Europe. They are grouped by market rather than ranked 1 to 10, because an Indian retail mutual fund and a London hedge fund platform cannot be compared on size, fees or access.

Top 10 Quant Funds in India, the UK and Europe in 2027

How the ten were chosen

Each name passed three tests: a rules-based investment process, published assets, and a 2026 record that can be checked against public sources. Proprietary trading firms with no outside investors were left out, which removes some of the best-known quant names in Mumbai and London.

Two cautions apply throughout. Hedge fund figures come from company statements and press reports, so dates and definitions differ from firm to firm. And nothing here is investment advice: past returns do not predict 2027.

India: small, retail and growing fast

India’s investable quant market is still tiny and almost entirely retail. The thematic-quant mutual fund category holds 11 schemes and about ₹10,000 crore, according to Sharpely’s category data. Four of the eleven, including the two largest, are too new to have a three-year record.

The past year was hard. The category returned 0.29% over one year against 0.54% for the Nifty 500 TRI. Over five years it is ahead, at 11.18% a year against 9.87%. That gap between a weak year and a sound long-term record is the central fact for anyone assessing Indian quant in 2027.

1. SBI Quant Fund is the largest scheme by assets and carries the distribution reach of India’s biggest fund house. Its NAV of ₹9.63 sits below the ₹10 issue price, so 2027 is a proving year.

2. Aditya Birla Sun Life Quant Fund is the second-largest and returned 4.35% over one year, well ahead of most peers. It also has the lowest expense ratio of the three.

3. Quant Quantamental Fund has the best long record in the category: 18.24% a year over five years. Its parent, quant Mutual Fund, blends models with manager judgement, and saw average assets fall 8.1% to ₹88,363 crore in the March 2026 quarter, per Cafemutual.

Table 1: India’s three quant funds to watch (direct plans)

Source: Sharpely, accessed 14 November 2026. Honourable mentions go to UTI Quant Fund (₹1,346 crore) and Nippon India Quant Fund, the cheapest in the category at 0.84%.

To put the scale in context, ₹2,544 crore is roughly $0.3bn. India’s largest quant fund is about one hundredth the size of CFM in Paris.

United Kingdom: the centre of European quant

London is home to Europe’s largest systematic managers, and 2026 added to their scale. Four firms stand out.

4. Qube Research & Technologies (QRT) is among the fastest-growing large quant firms anywhere. Spun out of Credit Suisse in 2018, it now manages more than $42bn, after assets grew about 50% in 11 months, Hedgeweek reported. Its platform returned an asset-weighted 22% in 2025. Only one of its four funds, the China-focused Dao strategy, is open to new money.

5. Man Group (AHL and Numeric) is the listed giant. Assets reached $270.9bn at 30 September 2026, with liquid alternatives at $99.7bn. AHL Alpha gained 5.4% in the third quarter and AHL Evolution 9.6%, according to Hedgeweek and Alliance News. It is the only name here that ordinary investors can also own through its shares.

6. Marshall Wace runs TOPS, a systematic equity long/short system that turns broker ideas into trades, alongside a discretionary business. The firm managed more than $70bn in October 2025, per a manager survey citing Reuters. Buyers should confirm which of the two businesses a given fund belongs to.

7. Winton is one of the original London trend followers. It manages more than $19bn, and its Diversified Macro fund was up 17.5% through late September 2026, according to a summary of Financial Times reporting. The same report put Aspect Capital’s flagship fund up 21%, which makes Aspect the obvious eleventh name.

Table 2: The UK’s four quant managers to watch

Continental Europe: physicists and trend followers

The continent’s quant industry is smaller than London’s but has the year’s best trend-following numbers.

8. Capital Fund Management (CFM), founded in Paris in 1991, is France’s largest hedge fund manager. Assets rose from about $19bn in October 2025 to roughly $27bn by May 2026, Bloomberg reported, and stood near $30bn at mid-year. That growth came even after CFM returned $2bn from its flagship Stratus fund to protect performance. In the first half of 2026 its Systematic Global Macro fund gained 17.3% and Discus 15.5%, while the $12bn Stratus fund rose 3.4%, according to Pensions & Investments.

9. Lynx Asset Management of Stockholm had the standout year. The Lynx Program returned 25.9% in the first half, its second-best first half in 25 years, against 9.1% for the SG Trend Index, per HedgeNordic. It was up 26.73% for the year at 5 November, on the firm’s own figures. Lynx credits machine learning and systematic macro models for about half of the gain.

10. Transtrend of Rotterdam completes the list. Its Diversified Trend Program is one of ten constituents of the SG Trend Index for 2026, alongside Lynx, Man AHL Alpha, Aspect and Winton. The firm does not publish its assets, so investors must ask.

Table 3: Continental Europe’s three quant managers to watch

Lynx assets are from HedgeNordic.

What to watch in 2027

Capacity is the new scarcity. The best funds are closing. Three of QRT’s four funds are shut to new capital, and CFM handed money back rather than dilute Stratus. In 2027, access will matter as much as selection, and newer vehicles such as CFM’s Cumulus will absorb the demand.

The 2026 trade can reverse. Much of this year’s gain came from one regime: rising bond yields and persistent trends. Lynx was down 3.53% in the first days of November alone. Trend followers that returned 20% or more in 2026 can give back a large share quickly if rates turn.

Machines are hiring humans. QRT has recruited sector specialists from Millennium, Rokos and others to work beside its algorithms, The Next Web reported. Expect more hybrid models, in London and in Mumbai, where quant Mutual Fund already blends the two.

China is back on the map. QRT’s Dao fund grew tenfold to more than $2bn in a year, and CFM opened a Shanghai office in May 2026.

India needs a full cycle. Indian quant funds have scale problems of the opposite kind: too little capital and too little history. If SBI and Aditya Birla Sun Life can show a clean three-year record by 2028, the category could multiply from its ₹10,000 crore base.

The common thread is discipline. The ten names above differ in size by a factor of several hundred, but each one publishes a process and sticks to it. That, more than any single year’s return, is the reason to watch them in 2027.

Sources

Man Group trading statement, quarter ended 30 September 2026

Hedgeweek: Man Group assets hit record $270.9bn

Hedgeweek: Qube expands China quant fund tenfold

Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance: CFM opens Shanghai office

Pensions & Investments: hedge fund performance, first half 2026

HedgeNordic: Lynx delivers second-best first half

HedgeNordic: Lynx marches through March mayhem

Lynx Asset Management: The Lynx Program

AlphaMaven summary of Financial Times: quant funds and the bond sell-off

The Next Web: Qube hires human stock pickers

Alliance News via Morningstar: Man Group third-quarter results

AlgoTrader: quant managers of 2026

Sharpely: thematic-quant mutual funds

Cafemutual: top mutual fund companies, FY 2026