[Vest Completes $13 Million Seed Round Financing, Led by Portal Ventures] BlockBeats News, October 7, according to Fortune, retail proprietary trading startup Vest Labs announced the completion of a $13 million seed round financing, led by Portal Ventures, with participation from individual executives at Citadel Securities, BlackRock, and KKR. The company did not disclose its post-financing valuation. Vest allows eligible traders to use company funds to trade perpetual contracts in real markets 24/7. Traders can retain up to 80% of the profits, with the remainder going to the company. The company stated that, compared to some retail proprietary trading firms that rely on charging fees for simulated trading accounts, this model enables Vest to benefit from traders' success rather than betting on their failure. The funds will be used to develop a mobile application, expand the current 22-person team, and increase the variety of assets available for 24/7 trading. According to Vest's self-reported data, as of late September, approximately 26% of the platform's 27,000 traders had received cash payouts, with monthly active traders and trading volume both growing by over 300% month-over-month. [Original Link]