About us

X Close

Afzal M. Tarar

Founder, Chairman & Managing Partner

Afzal (“Al”) is the Founder, Chairman and Managing Partner of Quartus Capital Partners. Based in New York City, he leads firm’s corporate development, engages with major investors and portfolio companies, and actively leads major investment deals.

Prior to founding Quartus, Al was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”), one of the world’s largest accounting, tax and advisory firms. He worked in PwC’s China/HK offices as well as New York City office.

Over the past 25 plus years, Al has led extensive work across and advised clients on new ventures and M&A opportunities in the financial services, wealth and asset management, real estate, business services, and technology industries in the US, China/HK and broadly in Asia Pacific.

Al has spent 14 years in China, over two 7-year stints (1982-89 and 2005-12). As a result, Al has gained front line experience and deep knowledge of China’s economic, regulatory, and social developments, as well as its cross-border investment flows. Al is a member of The National Committee on US-China Relations (www.ncuscr.org).

Al received a BE degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China on an international cultural exchange scholarship, an MS degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, and leadership development programs at Yale and INSEAD.

In addition to English, he is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Urdu/Hindi.

‍

X Close

Rizwan Muhammad

‍Partner
Rizwan Muhammad is a Partner at Quartus Capital Partners. Based in Silicon Valley, he focuses on technology growth advisory and investments in Digital Technologies, Industrial 4.0, AI and IoT.

Over the last 25 plus years, Rizwan led extensive work in high tech start-ups and related business and product management. Before Quaruts, he has spent 15 years at Hitachi Vantara as a Senior Director where he managed different teams and software portfolios in the IT Infrastructure Management and OT domain to plan, develop, and successful go to market campaigns. He also helped launch Hitachi’s Social Innovation (IoT) and vertical industry Solutions Business in the area of Communication, Media and Entertainment, Health Life Sciences, Public Safety and Smart DC.

Prior to Hitachi Rizwan was part of 2 successful start-ups where he built the technical and professional services teams in the area of asset monitoring, management and business Intelligence. Living through 2 startups and working for large enterprises gives Rizwan a broad perspective on the opportunities and challenges presented by the emerging technologies and markets.

X Close

Tim Tang, PhD
‍
Partner
Tim Tang, PhD, is a Partner of Quartus Capital Partners and based in Beijing, China.

Before Quartus, he was an executive at Guard Industrie, a Paris based world leader in material-protection technology, and in a similar role for a mining company. Previously, he was an executive at China Construction Corp., one of the largest construction and real estate development companies in the world,

Tim's business career started with a German investment consultant Sino-Asia Consulting after several years of service as an official in the local government. He has played key roles in $5 billion worth of M&A transactions between Chinese companies and companies from EU, USA, Australia, Pakistan etc. He is a successful entrepreneur and investor who is well versed in the management and operation in the cross-culture environment.

He holds degrees of BA, MBA and PhD as well as a ACCA certificate. He has been named The National Entrepreneur of Integrity and included in The 100 National Management Talent in the Construction Industry, becoming the cover story of Science Times, Securities Daily.

Tim is also the Acting Chairman of the World Tang Association which represents more than 12 million members all over the world.

X Close

Sophia Yang Gao
‍‍
Yang Gao, PhD, CFA, is a Partner of Arcis Capital Partners and based in Beijing, China.

Yang has more than 15 years of experience in large financial institutions, private equity and bank finance. Prior to Arcis, Yang served as Deputy General Manager of Capital Development Investment Fund Management Co. Ltd, where she led fund structuring and investment risk management. Yang also served as Deputy General Manager of Beijing Fund Capital Management Co. Ltd. as one of the core fund managers for a nearly RMB 3 billion funds (~US$ 440m).

Prior to this, Yang worked at three leading Chinese financial institutions: China Minsheng Bank, China Securities Investor Protection Funds (SIPF) and PICC Life Insurance Co. Ltd. At China Minsheng Bank, she served on the non-credit product evaluation committee to review the trust and fund products of over RMB 1 trillion (~US$ 15 b).

Yang received a Bachelor of Statistics degree from Qingdao Technological University, a Masters degree in law and a PhD in accounting from Renmin University of China.

Yang was a visiting scholar at the University of Florida from 2015-2016, researching financial risk management strategies.

Yang is a China licensed lawyer and CFA.

X Close

Barry Day
‍‍‍
Operating Partner
Barry Day is an operating partner at Quartus Capital Partners and focuses on cleantech, energy, chemicals and materials investments. He is based in New York City.

Barry has more than 15 years of diverse experience in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, ranging from investments, marketing, technology management, manufacturing and R&D. He has also worked on 2 startups. Before Quartus, he served as the Acting Director for Business Development and Manager for Global Technology Support at SK Innovation – one of the largest South Korean industrial groups. At SK, he worked on investment deals ranging from $2 million to $300 million in size.

Barry volunteers as a panelist, judge and mentor for startup and growth-stage companies at the Cleantech Open Northeast in green tech and other environmentally friendly technologies as well as impact development in related non-profit organizations.

Barry holds an MBA with a dual-focus in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from the Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business, and a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering also from The Pennsylvania State University.

We are an AI and technology investment firm.

Our Team