Exclusive: Portal Ventures–backed Vest raises $13 million to build a proprietary trading firm that shares traders’ profits

New York startup Vest Labs has secured $13 million in seed funding to build a proprietary trading firm that shares profits with its traders. Cofounded by University of Pennsylvania dropouts Justin Ma, Rikuya Takatsu, and Maximilian Tsiang, Vest takes a different approach to retail proprietary trading by allowing qualifying traders to use company money to trade perpetual futures in real markets around the clock.

Rather than betting against traders, Vest shares in their profits, giving users up to 80% of their earnings while taking a portion as the company's stake. Led by Portal Ventures, the funding round includes contributions from executives at Citadel Securities, BlackRock, and KKR. Vest plans to use the funds to develop a mobile app, expand its 22-person team, and increase the range of assets users can trade around the clock.

The retail proprietary trading sector is projected to reach $850 million in revenue by 2026, up about 45% from the previous year. Vest's model is gaining traction, with around 26% of the platform's 27,000 traders receiving cash payouts as of late September, and monthly active traders and trading volume surging over 300% month over month.