Catalyst raises $30M from Sequoia to build AI trading agents for retail investors

Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

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

by Diego Almada Lopez

Thu 8 Oct 2026 · 08:11 EDT 2 min read

In Technology

Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) price

Full chart and stats

Loading chart…

Last close: $161
Close-to-close change: +0.9%
Market cap: $42.5B (shares as of 2026-06-30)
P/E (trailing): Not meaningful: trailing loss. Diluted EPS −3.79 for 2025-07-01 to 2026-06-30, rolled from reported annual and year-to-date EPS (approximate) SEC filing
Annual revenue: $7.2B USD (FY ended 2025-12-31) 10-K
Annual revenue growth: +9.4% (FY ended 2025-12-31 vs FY ended 2024-12-31) 10-K
Annual net income: 1,260,327,000 USD (FY ended 2025-12-31, attributable to the company) 10-K
Annual operating margin: 20.0% (FY ended 2025-12-31)
Forward P/E: Unavailable: no dated forecast source

Gloria daily close for session Oct 27, 2026. Market cap and trailing P/E use this close with the SEC share total and trailing diluted earnings, each dated next to its figure. Annual revenue, revenue growth, net income and margin show their own fiscal period and link the 10-K. Current context may postdate this article.

Coinbase Global, Inc. and its peers

Company	Price	Market cap	P/E (trailing)	Forward P/E	Annual revenue (USD)	Annual revenue growth	Annual net income (USD)	Operating margin
Coinbase Global, Inc. COIN · Price dated Oct 27, 2026 · tokenized COINx	$161	$42.5B	Not meaningfulLoss, diluted EPS −3.79 to 2026-06-30 · SEC filing	Unavailable	$7.2BFY ended 2025-12-31 · 10-K	+9.4%FY ended 2025-12-31 vs 2024-12-31 · 10-K	1,260,327,000FY ended 2025-12-31, attributable to the company · 10-K	20.0%FY ended 2025-12-31
Strategy Inc MSTR · Price dated Oct 27, 2026 · tokenized MSTRx	$141	Unavailable	Not meaningfulLoss, diluted EPS −96.98 to 2026-06-30 · SEC filing	Unavailable	$477.2MFY ended 2025-12-31 · 10-K	+3.0%FY ended 2025-12-31 vs 2024-12-31 · 10-K	−3,848,152,000FY ended 2025-12-31, attributable to the company · 10-K	−1,140.8%FY ended 2025-12-31
Circle Internet Group, Inc. CRCL · Price dated Oct 27, 2026 · tokenized CRCLx	$82	Unavailable	16.3	Unavailable	$2.7BFY ended 2025-12-31 · 10-K	+63.9%FY ended 2025-12-31 vs 2024-12-31 · 10-K	−69,508,000FY ended 2025-12-31, attributable to the company · 10-K	−3.5%FY ended 2025-12-31
Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc. BMNR · Price dated Oct 27, 2026 · tokenized BMNRx	$22	$13.0B	Not meaningfulLoss, diluted EPS −4.50 to 2026-05-31 · SEC filing	Unavailable	$6.1MFY ended 2025-08-31 · 10-K	+84.1%FY ended 2025-08-31 vs 2024-08-31 · 10-K	348,577,000FY ended 2025-08-31, attributable to the company · 10-K	7,288.1%FY ended 2025-08-31

Missing figures stay unavailable. Forward P/E requires a dated source. Annual revenue, revenue growth, net income and margin come from each company's own 10-K, in US dollars, and each row shows that fiscal year. Revenue growth compares the fiscal year with the prior year stated in the same 10-K. Net income is the full year amount attributable to the company, or available to common stockholders where the filing states only that, or consolidated net income. Each row names its basis. Trailing P/E reads "Not meaningful" when the dated trailing diluted EPS is a loss or zero. An operating margin appears only when the filing states both the operating income and the revenue for the same year.

Sources: SEC filings, Gloria daily closes and CoinGecko. Oldest record refresh: Oct 28, 2026, 4:41 PM EDT. Refresh is not a price or filing date. Each row shows its price date and its annual fiscal period. Peers use industry code and company size, or editorial selection. Market cap multiplies that row price by the company share total the latest SEC filing states for every share class together. Trailing P/E divides it by trailing diluted earnings from SEC filings. Rolled earnings per share are approximate because share counts can change between periods. Both appear only when the SEC data carries its date, so they are estimates at one price date, not synchronized filing valuations. Not investment advice.

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.

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.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

More in Technology

See all

Previous storyVesta raises $30M to scale AI agents built for mortgage lenders

Menu

Crypto sections