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

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 ...