New York-based startup Vest Labs has secured $13 million in a seed funding round led by Portal Ventures. The round, which closed in July, also saw participation from executives at Citadel Securities, BlackRock, and KKR. Previously, the company raised approximately $10 million from backers including Jane Street, Amber Group, and QCP Capital.
The platform, Vest Markets, allows traders to use company capital for perpetual futures trading across crypto, commodities, and equity indices. Unlike traditional prop firms that profit from fees on simulated accounts, Vest generates revenue by taking a share of actual trading gains. Traders can retain between 80% and 95% of their profits.
As of late September, the platform reported a user base of approximately 27,000 traders. The company noted that 26% of these users have received payouts in USDC. Additionally, Vest reported that monthly active users and trading volumes have increased by more than 300% month-over-month.
The startup was co-founded by CEO Justin Ma, Rikuya Takatsu, and Maximilian Tsiang. The platform utilizes a proprietary risk engine called zkRisk to monitor positions in real-time. Payouts are conducted in USDC to facilitate rapid, cross-border settlements for the 24-hour trading environment.
