#600
Markets to Minds
Published:
Jul 19, 2025
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
Share:
Three decades ago, two IBM researchers working on early AI models were recruited by Jim Simons, lured not by the mission of a then-obscure hedge fund, but by a salary too good to ignore. That gamble led Bob Mercer and Peter Brown to Renaissance Technologies, where they helped shape the most legendary quant fund in history. Today, that tide is turning once more, but in reverse.
OpenAI, Anthropic, and a rising wave of AI labs are poaching the same talent that Wall Street once monopolized. Quants from Citadel, Jane Street, and HRT are trading trading for AGI, drawn by compensation packages in the millions and the chance to move from extracting basis points to building reasoning engines. Sam Altman is staging recruiting parties and calling on traders to escape the “existential dread” of latency shaving and join his AGI moonshot. Meta is handing out $100 million offers, and former quants are hosting rival events to poach their own. For those fluent in statistics, code, and system design, the choice is no longer obvious.
What’s unfolding is not just a salary war. It’s a reallocation of ambition. The same quantitative minds that once optimized liquidity are now being asked to help model cognition. For the first time in decades, Wall Street's best minds may be choosing mission over margin.
Portfolio News
FTC announces two new Principals - Samantha Wulfson & Cristobal de Atucha - We’re thrilled to announce the promotions of Samantha Wulfson and Cristobal de Atucha to Principal at FinTech Collective. Both Sam and Cris represent the next generation of venture capital at FTC - thoughtful, high-conviction investors who bring energy, integrity, and a deep sense of purpose to their work. Their respective journeys - across geographies, sectors, and stages - reflect the global reach of our platform and the values we strive to embody as a firm. We couldn’t be prouder to see them step into this next chapter. Read more
Tivita invests in AI agents to reach new clients and grow 10x in 2025 - Tivita, Brazil based financial and administrative management platform for medical clinics, has announced the launch of two digital agents, Julia and Tais. The new technology will be available to over 1,000 clinics already using Tivita’s services and signals the company’s new focus on larger clients. Read more
Interview: CoinCover CCO Anthony Yeung on future of regulation and trust in crypto industry - Yeung came from a world of AML, fraud prevention, and secure financial rails, and his entry into digital assets was driven by a desire to apply that mindset to the fast-moving world of crypto. Initially skeptical, Anthony’s curiosity grew as he saw the potential firsthand. In this interview, he discusses regulation, safety, decentralization, and the road to onboarding the next billion users in the industry. Read more
Antler launches Antler ONE programme to back continental Europe’s top tech founders - Starting from September, outlier founders will be invited to Berlin to build category-defining tech companies. After the initial phase, founders can either stay in Berlin to grow their businesses or work with our Antler investment teams in Munich, Amsterdam, and Paris. Founders that secure investment will receive €200k from Antlers with a commitment to invest up to a further €300k in the company’s pre-seed round. Read more
Xero and Plaid team to improve small business banking access - This partnership is aimed at ultimately tripling the number of high-quality bank feeds available to customers in the U.S., the companies said. With this collaboration, Xero’s customers gain access to more than a thousand bank connections through Plaid’s network of U.S. financial institutions. Read more
Mattilda selects Gr4vy to power white-label payment orchestration across Latin America - Gr4vy's platform enables Mattilda to launch a fully branded, customizable payment infrastructure, supporting its transition into a payfac and offering the right payment integrations, branding control, and speed to launch. As a result, Mattilda gains full orchestration capabilities and uses a white-labeled solution that offers a fully branded experience to every customer they support, allowing them to expand into new markets like Colombia. Read more
Markets to Minds
OpenAI and other AI players are targeting Wall Street's quant stars with multimillion-dollar paydays - Poaching quants for Silicon Valley isn't new. But AI startups awash in cash can not only match but outbid Wall Street pay. Junior and midlevel traders at top high-speed trading firms are now fielding multimillion-dollar packages — up sharply from a year ago. Additionally, as some AI valuations soar into the billions, the risk calculus is shifting for some quants. Read more
Mark Zuckerberg is determined to build an AI superteam—and he’s poaching from Sam Altman with multimillion-dollar pay packages - In 2025, Meta’s aggressive hiring spree has seen the company extend offers to AI experts that rival the pay of professional athletes and Fortune 500 CEOs—and even Zuckerberg himself. Top-tier AI researchers at Meta are reportedly being offered total compensation packages of up to $300m over four years, with some initial year earnings exceeding $100m. Read more
Industry News
Anthropic courts finance industry with new AI tools - The new offering, called Claude for Financial Services, is designed to help analysts conduct market research, handle due diligence and make investment decisions. The product pairs Anthropic’s core enterprise and coding AI tools with information from third-party financial data providers, including FactSet, PitchBook and Morningstar, for customers with subscriptions to those services. Read more
Trump executive order to help open up 401(k)s to private markets - An order could help pave the way for big managers of private assets such as Apollo Global Management and Blackstone to access the vast sums of retirement savings held by workers who don’t have a traditional pension. Institutional investors such as pension funds have largely maxed out on private markets, leading firms to look to individual investors for new sources of growth. Read more
JPMorgan tells fintechs to pay up for customer data access - The bank has told financial-technology companies that it will start charging fees amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars for access to their customers’ bank account information – a move that threatens to upend the industry’s business models. The fees vary depending on how companies use the information, with higher levies tied to payments-focused companies. Read more
Digital asset-focused investment platform Grayscale prepares to go public - The company said in a Monday press release that it confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the SEC. Grayscale Investments was founded in 2013 and facilitates investments in the digital economy through investment products. Read more
Crypto companies race to secure banking foothold in US - Crypto payments group Ripple, stablecoin company Circle and custodian BitGo have applied for national trust bank charters that will allow them to offer some banking services, while crypto exchange Kraken plans to launch bank cards in the next month. The moves underscore how crypto companies are seeking to broaden their activities from just offering digital asset services. Read more
Blackstone to invest $25b in AI data centers and energy - Blackstone will make the investment in northeast Pennsylvania, president and COO Jon Gray said Tuesday at the Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh. Gray said "the special sauce" in the Blackstone investment will be "the idea that you can colocate the data centers directly next to the source of power." Read more
UK government to set up IPO taskforce in bid to attract listings - The London Stock Exchange Group and UK regulators have been implementing reforms to make the London market more attractive, including plans to allow non-sterling stocks onto UK stock indexes and cutting red tape for capital increases. Read more
Citi plans ‘Strata Elite’ credit card to rival Amex Platinum - Citigroup is preparing to launch a premium credit card, returning to a competitive field as more banks target high-end customers with elaborate rewards offerings. Read more
Donald Trump set to open US retirement market to crypto investments - Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week that would open up 401k plans to alternative investments beyond traditional stocks and bonds, according to three people who have been briefed on the president’s plans. Read more
The EU published its new rulebook for GenAI. What do startups need to know? - The AI Act comprises the first set of laws comprehensively governing how the fast-moving technology will be regulated — but has been criticised by some for putting too much pressure on a nascent industry. Read more
Ex-Sequoia partner closes in on $400m European tech fund - A former Sequoia Capital Partner who left the Silicon Valley firm is set to launch a $400m UK-based venture capital fund. Read more
Talos to acquire crypto financial intelligence platform, Coinmetrics - Data is a crucial component within trading and portfolio management workflows, particularly for the largest institutional clients both companies serve. The firms’ complementary services will create synergies for their collective clients, including streamlined access to advanced portfolio analytics, sophisticated risk monitoring, premium indexes and industry-leading execution capabilities. Read more
OpenAI to take cut of ChatGPT shopping sales in hunt for revenues - OpenAI now aims to integrate a checkout system into ChatGPT, which ensures users complete transactions within the platform. Taking a cut of sales from ChatGPT would allow the company to make money from users of its free version. Read more
Select Financings
Billee Technologies - Dallas based utility management platform raised $9.2m led by RET Ventures. Read more
CertifID - Austin based real estate wire fraud prevention company raised $47.5m in Series C funding led by Centana Growth Partners. Read more
Covenant - New York based AI-powered law firm for private market investors raised $4m in Seed funding led by Flybridge Capital. Read more
Dakota - New York based crypto-integrated banking platform raised $12.5m in Series A funding led by CoinFund. Read more
Eton Solutions - North Carolina based wealth management platform for family offices raised $58m in Series C funding led by Navis Capital Partners. Read more
Heka Global - Tel Aviv based real-time digital fraud prevention company raised $14m in Series A funding led by Windare Ventures. Read more
Murphy - London based AI debt collection platform raised $15m in Seed funding led by BVV (the venture arm of Klarna) and Fin Capital. Read more
Ordio - Germany based automated payroll company raised €12m in Series A funding led by 3VC. Read more
Paypercut - Bulgaria based fintech for SMBs to offer BNPL raised €2m in Pre-Seed funding led by Concentric. Read more
Quandri - Vancouver based platform for insurance brokerages and agencies raised $12m led by Framework Venture Partners. Read more
Retirable - New York based retirement planning startup raised $10m in Series A funding led by IA Capital. Read more
Spiko - Paris based tokenized infrastructure company for smaller businesses raised $22m in Series A funding led by Index Ventures. Read more
FinTech Collective Newsletter
Curated News with Context
Delivered every Monday, the weekly newsletter, produced by our team, provides a tightly edited rundown of global fintech news, along with a bit of our original analysis.