Mo Tao From NOI to Quant CTO | Generated by AI
Question: Provide a comprehensive introduction to Mo Tao (莫涛), including his NOI gold medal, role at SenseTime as tech lead, Tsinghua background, and current involvement in a quantitative trading startup.
Answer:
Mo Tao (莫涛) is a highly accomplished Chinese computer scientist, competitive programmer, and technology executive known for his exceptional performance in informatics olympiads and subsequent contributions to AI and quantitative finance.
Early Achievements and Education
- Mo Tao achieved the top rank (first place) in the National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI) in China during his high school years.
- This outstanding performance earned him a gold medal at the national level and selection as a member of China’s National Training Team for the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).
- Thanks to his NOI success, he was admitted to Tsinghua University (清华大学) without taking the regular Gaokao college entrance exam (保送), a common path for top NOI performers.
- He graduated from Tsinghua University’s Department of Computer Science and Technology (本科毕业于清华大学计算机系).
Competitive Programming Highlights
- While at Tsinghua, Mo Tao represented the university in the ACM-ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest).
- He helped secure strong results for Tsinghua teams and personally earned a bronze medal at the ACM-ICPC World Finals.
Career at SenseTime (商汤科技)
- After graduation, Mo Tao joined SenseTime (商汤科技有限公司), one of China’s leading artificial intelligence companies, specializing in computer vision, deep learning, and related technologies.
- He served in senior engineering roles, including as a tech lead / senior software engineer and was affiliated with SenseTime’s engineering academy / research institute.
- He was recognized internally as a key contributor to rapid technical iteration, product development, and maintaining the company’s competitive edge in AI.
- Mo Tao was also featured as a representative of SenseTime’s competitive programming talent pool; for example, he was interviewed by ICPC News during SenseTime’s sponsorship of the 42nd ACM-ICPC World Finals (2018), where he shared experiences and advice for ACM contestants based on his own background.
Current Role: Quantitative Trading Startup
- Mo Tao is now a co-founder (联合创始人) and CTO of Zhengding Private Equity / Zhengding Quantitative (正定私募), a Beijing-based private fund / quantitative trading firm.
- In this role, he leads technology development for quantitative investment strategies, leveraging his strong algorithmic and programming expertise — a natural transition from competitive programming and large-scale AI systems to high-performance, data-driven trading infrastructure.
Mo Tao exemplifies the classic trajectory of many top Chinese informatics talents: NOI success → elite university (Tsinghua) → strong ACM performance → high-impact roles at leading tech firms (SenseTime) → entrepreneurship in quant finance. His background combines elite algorithmic problem-solving skills with practical experience building large-scale AI systems, making him well-suited for quantitative trading.
References:
- 正定私募 company page on BOSS Zhipin (describes Mo Tao’s background including NOI gold #1, Tsinghua, ACM bronze, SenseTime)
- SenseTime support for 42nd ACM-ICPC World Finals (mentions Mo Tao as SenseTime engineering representative and former Tsinghua ACM bronze medalist)
- Beijing Zhengding Simu Mo Tao profile (fund manager bio confirming Tsinghua CS, NOI national first place, ACM bronze, former senior at SenseTime)
- RocketReach profile (lists Mo Tao as co-founder at 正定私募, previous roles at SenseTime and CUHK)