Hi, I'm Alexander Maanavi

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University of Toronto • Interplay

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About Me

Alexander Francois Maanavi

Alexander Francois Maanavi

New York, NY

I'm a Mathematics & Philosophy student at the University of Toronto with a minor in Statistics. Alongside school, I co-founded the Office of Rebates and Grants, advising 20+ startups on grant funding, and have worked across quantitative crypto strategy, biotech investment research, and M&A due diligence. Outside of work, I compete in chess (~2000-rated) and poker (4x Fiji Poker Champion).

QuantitativeAI-DrivenCurious
Descending snowy steps at night

Casa Loma, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Resume

University of Toronto, St. George's Campus

09/2023 – 06/2027
Major: Mathematics — Minors: Philosophy, Statistics

Riverdale Country School

09/2021 – 06/2023
High School Diploma

Cambridge University

Professional Certificate of Applied Corporate Finance

Founding Team

2026 – Present
Stealth AI•
New York, NY

Intern, Operations and AI, Studio

05/2026 – 08/2026
Interplay•
New York, NY
  • Built 3 AI products end-to-end across business strategy and consulting, consumer social, and financial analysis and underwriting; 1 spun out into standalone companies (getdemando.com).
  • Authored business plans for multiple accelerator startups and supported research on 40+ portfolio companies and target investments.
  • Architected and maintained the firm's internal AI infrastructure including firm-wide context systems and full-stack deployment, and partnered with the Ascend family office team under the CIO to ship secure client tooling including internal-to-external encrypted data transfer, investment analysis portals, and private messaging.
  • Reported directly to senior partner.

Intern, Data Analysis and Strategy (Hybrid)

06/2025 – 01/2026
EgaTree•
New York, NY
  • Joined as an early team member at a 3-person fintech startup, building quantitative Bitcoin trading strategies grounded in the Power-Law model.
  • Engineered long-term BTC cycle trading models in Python, backtested against 14 years of price data to validate Power-Law performance signals.
  • Designed and directly presented investor materials to private and institutional clients, supporting a seed-stage startup's fundraising for a quantitative crypto strategy fund.

Intern, Investment Research and Strategy (Hybrid)

09/2025 – 01/2026
Manas AI•
New York, NY
  • Conducted diligence on 4 pipeline drug candidates across indication fit, TAM sizing, and clinical feasibility, directly informing executive capital deployment decisions.
  • Authored weekly strategic reports to C-suite and VP of Operations, distilling complex biotech data into actionable investment recommendations.
  • Presented recommendations to C-suite on commercial potential and capital deployment considerations.

Co-Founder (CEO 01/2023–05/2025)

01/2023 – 01/2025
Office of Rebates and Grants•
New York, NY
  • Co-founded a legal services startup partnering with law firms to deliver affordable, on-call legal advice to student-founded startups.
  • Sourced and advised 20+ companies on Employee Retention Credit and CARES Act applications via partner law firms, generating $3M+ in client funding and $300K+ in revenue.
  • Led all client relationships as primary liaison between founders, clients, and partner law firms.

Employee

07/2024 – 03/2025
Blanco Art•
New York, NY / Toronto, ON (Remote)
  • Served as first employee, reporting directly to the founder of Cardinal Ventures, gaining hands-on exposure to early-stage venture building.
  • Authored investor materials and quarterly reports for 7+ investors, advising the founder on capital allocation strategy.
  • Built event-level budgets and supported partner negotiations and funding plans across key growth initiatives.

Summer Intern, Special Projects

06/2023 – 08/2023
Geller & Company•
New York, NY
  • Delivered competitive industry research that directly supported the acquisition decision for Julien's Auctions, an 8-figure deal.
  • Presented financial analysis and expense optimization recommendations to the C-suite of 3 M&A targets.
  • Created presentations on unnecessary expenses and maximizing short-term ROI for a newly acquired company, presented to high-value clients and the COO.
  • Produced first financial analytics and management reporting on new acquisitions as a special project for the CEO.

Featured Projects

Completed

The Court's Wrong Reason

An investigation of Langton's illocutionary account and the limits of R v Butler, arguing the Supreme Court of Canada's obscenity ruling rests on an unstable philosophical foundation.

Legal PhilosophyConstitutional Law
2026Click to expand
Completed

Rules Without Principles

Applies Dworkin's legal philosophy to VAR in soccer, using England's 2026 World Cup quarterfinal as a case study for FIFA's obligation to consistency.

Sports LawLegal Philosophy
2026Click to expand
Ongoing

Interactive Chess Board

A replayable chess viewer on this site featuring five historic master games, with click-and-drag moves, arrow-key navigation, and move highlighting.

ReactTypeScriptchess.js
2026Play now
Ongoing

The Reception Project

An interactive exploration of the reception of Homer's Odyssey, tracing how the epic has been read, adapted, and reinterpreted across history.

Next.jsTypeScript
2026Click to expand
Ongoing

64Squares

A chess web app for playing, analyzing, and reviewing games in the browser.

ReactTypeScriptchess.js
2026Click to expand

Skills & Activities

Core Skills

Financial ModellingExcel & Microsoft Office SuitePythonSQLCRM Creation and ManagementAI-Native
Languages: French (Proficient, in-progress) · Spanish (Conversational) · German (Basic, in-progress)

Clubs & Awards

UofT Chess Team (Alternate, 2026)

Vertige Investment Group, Quant Finance Competition Team (2025)

Phi Gamma Delta, Financial Committee & Cabinet Advisory (2025/27)

UofT Club Soccer

UofT Intramural Football

Interests

Chess (~2000-rated online) · Poker (4x Fiji Poker Champion) · Soccer · Basketball · Football · Linguistics · Geography & Geopolitics

Play a Game

Replay five historic master games — click, drag, or use arrow keys.

Garry Kasparov (2851) vs. Veselin Topalov (2690)

1999 · Hoogovens

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
1.e4d6
2.d4Nf6
3.Nc3g6
4.Be3Bg7
5.Qd2c6
6.f3b5
7.Nge2Nbd7
8.Bh6Bxh6
9.Qxh6Bb7
10.a3e5
11.O-O-OQe7
12.Kb1a6
13.Nc1O-O-O
14.Nb3exd4
15.Rxd4c5
16.Rd1Nb6
17.g3Kb8
18.Na5Ba8
19.Bh3d5
20.Qf4+Ka7
21.Rhe1d4
22.Nd5Nbxd5
23.exd5Qd6
24.Rxd4cxd4
25.Re7+Kb6
26.Qxd4+Kxa5
27.b4+Ka4
28.Qc3Qxd5
29.Ra7Bb7
30.Rxb7Qc4
31.Qxf6Kxa3
32.Qxa6+Kxb4
33.c3+Kxc3
34.Qa1+Kd2
35.Qb2+Kd1
36.Bf1Rd2
37.Rd7Rxd7
38.Bxc4bxc4
39.Qxh8Rd3
40.Qa8c3
41.Qa4+Ke1
42.f4f5
43.Kc1Rd2
44.Qa7
White to move

Use ← → to step through the game

Travel

Get In Touch

Reach out about opportunities, ideas, or just to say hi.

Email

amaanavi84@gmail.com

Location

New York, NY