Vanquish Brings the 1 Trillion USD Shopify Playbook to Wall Street
Shopify proved you don't need inventory to run a store. Vanquish proves you don't need your own quants to run a fund
DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, Feb. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "The playbooks are already written," says Alexander Foster, 26, co-founder of Vanquish and Vertus — a quantitative AI firm that returned 51% in 2025. "Shopify, Uber, Stripe — they didn't invent new business models. They took friction out of existing markets. The winners in the next decade will do the same thing in industries that haven't been touched yet."
Foster believes finance is next.
Today, Vanquish announced the launch of its US operations — a platform that reduces the cost of launching an investment fund from over $500,000 to less than $10,000 by providing pre-vetted quantitative strategies, legal structure, and compliance infrastructure under one platform.
The Shopify Playbook
In 2006, launching an online store required $50,000+ in development, complex merchant approvals, and warehouses full of inventory. Fewer than 100,000 e-commerce stores existed globally. Then Shopify reduced the cost to $29 per month. Today, over 30 million stores operate worldwide. Shopify has facilitated over $1 trillion in cumulative sales.
"When you drop costs by 98 percent, you don't capture existing demand — you create demand that couldn't exist before," Foster says. "That's a 300x market expansion. We're betting the same thing happens in finance."
The numbers suggest room for expansion. Fewer than 30,000 hedge funds operate globally, despite 24 million accredited investors in the United States alone.
Powered by 51% Returns
Strategies come from Vertus, a quantitative AI firm co-founded by Foster with Michal Prywata — serial founder whose ventures include NASA-contracted space infrastructure, MIT-incubated medical robotics, and agricultural AI — and Julius Franck, a mathematical architect who graduated valedictorian across Germany and South Korea.
Within 10 months, Vertus scaled to multiple eight-figure revenue, with trading systems managing over $1 billion in daily volume. In 2025, those systems delivered 51% returns — beating Citadel, Millennium, Bridgewater, and D.E. Shaw. All performance data is independently audited by Alpha Performance Verification Services.
"In finance, you can't hide behind branding," says co-founder Antonio Guidi. "The numbers are the numbers. That's exactly the environment we've built."
Three-Sided Marketplace
"We're not a marketplace where anyone can list anything," says co-founder Ryan Kelly. "We're building an ecosystem of verified partners — quants, fund managers, service providers — all connected through a layer of trust."
Traders can verify their track record through Vertus, enter the platform, and have their strategies offered by multiple funds simultaneously. For fund managers, the value proposition is equally compelling: a constantly expanding library of pre-vetted strategies.
"A fund manager who joins today will have access to strategies that don't even exist yet," Guidi says.
"The incentives are completely aligned," Kelly says. "Better performance, larger funds, larger platform. Everyone wins."
Platforms
Vanquish US provides fund formation infrastructure for RIAs, family offices, and emerging managers launching Delaware Series LLC structures under Reg D.
Vanquish Global offers white-label investment company infrastructure across 190+ countries through FCA, CySEC, and FSC-regulated partner entities.
Both platforms are now live.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements regarding anticipated platform developments and market expansion. Actual results may differ materially. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Trading involves substantial risk of loss.
About Vanquish
Vanquish is a technology and infrastructure provider. Vanquish does not provide investment advice, manage funds, handle client capital, or act as a broker-dealer or investment adviser. Regulated services are provided by third-party licensed entities.
Website: vanquish.so
Contact: sen@vanquishholdings.co.uk
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/85ba252d-2d98-4e40-97bf-d51d985eadd5
Vanquish Leadership
Founding Team of Vanquish - Ryan Kelly (Left), Alex Foster, Antonio Guidi (Right)
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