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Catalyst raises $30M from Sequoia to build AI trading agents for retail investors
The startup wants everyday investors to describe goals in plain language and let AI agents handle research, strategy and execution, with the user's sign-off
Catalyst, a startup founded in 2025, has closed a $30 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital to build AI trading agents aimed squarely at retail investors.
The round closed on October 8, 2026. The pitch is simple: tell the software what you want, and it figures out how to trade for it, though only after you say yes.
What Catalyst is actually building
Users state their investment objectives in natural language. The platform then turns those goals into a working trading plan.
The agents cover a long checklist. They handle research, strategy design, asset selection, cost optimization and execution.
Every step that moves money depends on the user confirming it.
Catalyst ran its initial testing with high-frequency traders before pointing the product at a wider audience.
The company first went public with its plans in March 2026, launching a waitlist at the same time. The seed round lands about seven months later.
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A cap table that bridges Wall Street and crypto
Sequoia led the round. Participating investors include Jump Trading, Peak XV, Lux Capital, AntiFund, Coinbase and Premji Invest.
Catalyst frames its broader goal as opening up complex financial markets to ordinary investors.
A poker game, a Worldcoin alum and a Defense Department researcher
The founding story starts at a card table. Co-founder Justin Zheng believes Dylan Iskandar took his money the first time they met as teenagers.
The game happened in 2019 at a conference run by economist Tyler Cowen.
“We just stayed in touch, and we got closer over the years before deciding to start something together,” Zheng said.
Zheng is 25 and previously worked at Worldcoin. Iskandar is 21 and has done cybersecurity research for the US Department of Defense, along with ties to Stanford University.
What this means for retail investors and the industry
The user-approval requirement is Catalyst’s main answer to that concern. Whether retail investors meaningfully review each AI recommendation, or simply tap “confirm” like they accept app terms of service, is the open question.
For crypto watchers, Coinbase’s check is the detail to track. An exchange backing an AI trading layer for retail users suggests interest in how agents could eventually route orders, though neither company has announced any integration.