The booming retail proprietary trading industry can make money even when its traders don’t. Rather than relying on live market returns, many of these firms charge fees for simulated trading accounts, letting them profit whether users succeed or fail. New York–based startup Vest Labs says it’s taking a different approach by letting qualifying traders use company money to trade perpetual futures in real markets around the clock. Vest shares in their profits rather than betting against them.
Cofounded by friends and University of Pennsylvania dropouts Justin Ma, Rikuya Takatsu, and Maximilian Tsiang, Vest announced Wednesday that it had raised a $13 million seed round, which closed in July.
