Vest raises $13M seed to flip the prop-trading model in traders' favour
What's the deal? New York-based Vest Labs has raised a $13 million seed round led by Portal VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to build a proprietary trading firm that shares in its traders' profits rather than betting against them. The round, which closed in July, also drew individual backers including senior executives at Citadel Securities, BlackRock, and KKR. Vest declined to disclose its valuation.
How it works: Vest lets qualifying traders use company money to trade perpetual futures in real markets around the clock, keeping up to 80% of their profits while Vest takes the rest. That contrasts with the standard prop model, where firms charge upfront fees for simulated accounts and profit whether users succeed or fail.
Why it matters: "Instead of trying to improve iteratively on the prop firm business, we… just said, 'How can we do this with the interests aligned with the user?'" said chief executive officer Justin Ma, who cofounded the company with fellow University of Pennsylvania dropouts Rikuya Takatsu and Maximilian Tsiang. The $13 million seed sits in the 97th percentile of all US fintech seed rounds, a signal of investor conviction in the model.
The numbers: Vest says roughly 26% of its 27,000 traders had received a cash payout as of late September, while monthly active traders and trading volume climbed over 300% month-over-month. For comparison, futures firm TopstepDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → disclosed that about 17% of its 2025 evaluations were completed, and only a third of funded traders ever got a payout.
What's the endgame? The company plans to use the funding to build a mobile app, expand its 22-person team, and broaden the range of assets users can trade. Ma began laying the groundwork after dropping out to build and sell BerriDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a consumer trading app he said reached 100,000 users before selling within months.
The signal: Retail proprietary trading is growing fast, with research firm Track360Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → estimating sector revenue will hit $850 million in 2026, up about 45% from the prior year. As incumbents like CMC MarketsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → pile into fee-based, simulated-trading programs, Vest is betting that aligning its profits with traders' real returns can carve out a different path.
Read more: fortune.com
Image credit: Vest Labs
