FinTech firm Increase Alpha raises $3.5m for AI engine

October 8, 2025

Increase Alpha, a Washington DC-based FinTech start-up founded by former US government AI policy advisor Sid Ghatak, has raised $3.5m in seed funding to accelerate the launch of its proprietary AI-driven equity prediction engine for hedge funds and institutional investors.

The round was led by Bartt Kellermann, CEO of Battle of the Quants.

The company’s Predictive Artificial Intelligence (PAI) platform has already demonstrated remarkable performance, achieving 90% cumulative excess returns over the past three years. By leveraging an information gap in the market, Increase Alpha claims to identify hundreds of tradable equities with an average accuracy of 70%, significantly surpassing the 52–55% industry benchmark typically achieved by hedge funds. Its solution is designed for seamless integration, allowing hedge funds to incorporate ready-to-use predictive signals without the burden of internal data cleansing or preprocessing.

The company has already launched pilots and trials with several top-tier funds and is now preparing to onboard additional clients.

The announcement coincides with several key milestones for the firm. Increase Alpha recently sponsored the Eagle Alpha conference, where it unveiled its predictive technology to the hedge fund community. At the same time, AI analytics firm Zanista published a research paper on its performance, and Ghatak testified before Congress on the role of AI in improving veteran care.

Increase Alpha founder and CEO Sid Ghatak said, “We are at an inflection point in fintech where predictive AI will become fundamental to investment strategies. With years of academic research and real-world trials, Increase Alpha now delivers proven predictive capabilities that institutional investors can trust. Our goal isn’t to just create another model, but redefine how AI technology is applied in finance.”

Bartt Kellermann, CEO of Battle of the Quants, said, “After seeing how Increase Alpha merged AI, data and hedge funds I decided to invest. This combination is so completely unique and effective that they have the potential to reimagine the entire hedge fund space.”