FinTech firm MochaTrade raises pre-seed from YCombinator to bring round-the-clock US stock, commodity, & crypto perpetuals to eligible traders worldwide

Bengaluru : MochaTrade, a global trading platform that intends to offer perpetual futures on United States stocks, commodities and indices to eligible users, has announced that it has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund as part of Y Combinator’s Spring 2026 batch.

Subject to applicable regulatory approvals and laws, the platform aims to enable eligible traders to take leveraged directional views on assets such as Apple, Tesla, gold and the S&P 500 through a single mobile application.

It is designed to reduce reliance on traditional brokerage accounts, cross-border transfers and fragmented domestic products, whilst adhering to the highest standards of regulatory compliance in target jurisdictions.

MochaTrade’s markets are designed to operate continuously, with trades settling in real time rather than over one to two business days, freeing up capital immediately after positions are closed.

The deepest and most liquid markets in the world are American, and retail access in many jurisdictions remains limited. Domestic brokers in many countries offer narrow product suites and limited leverage on US equities, while funding a US brokerage account from abroad can be slow, expensive and tax-heavy.

The company estimates that enabling leveraged access to US stocks for global traders represents a market opportunity of more than 100 billion dollars. By comparison, Robinhood, which mainly serves United States users, carries a market capitalisation of approximately 80 billion dollars.

“Non-US traders make up the largest retail derivatives market in the world, and yet they have limited access through domestic channels to the most liquid, most valuable equities on the planet. After scaling Martian Wallet to two million users, we saw the same pattern again and again, sophisticated traders with capital, conviction, and no clean way to express a view on United States assets through compliant pathways,” said Utkarsh Sinha, Co-founder and CEO of MochaTrade.

“Perpetual futures are the right financial primitive, but every product built on them so far has been designed for crypto natives, not traders. We are rebuilding the experience so that trading Apple feels like trading Apple. We are grateful to Harj, Nemil, the Y Combinator team, and Pioneer Fund for backing the mission this early,” he added.

MochaTrade was founded by IITians Utkarsh Sinha, Chetan Manda and Parth Maheshwari, bringing experience across fintech, enterprise software and consumer technology.

The funds raised will be used to build the core perpetuals trading engine and risk infrastructure, alongside completing regulatory and compliance groundwork required for launch. A portion will also support go-to-market efforts among active retail traders in eligible jurisdictions.

Investors highlighted the team’s execution track record and regulatory-first approach.

“The MochaTrade team has done this before. They have built consumer financial products at scale, they understand derivatives at a deep level, and they are tackling a global market that has been structurally underserved for decades. This is exactly the kind of ambitious, infrastructure-heavy bet we love backing at YC,” said Harj Taggar, Managing Partner at Y Combinator.

“What sets MochaTrade apart is their commitment to the most regulated pathways for offering United States stock perpetuals, in full compliance with local law, to give eligible users a safe and compliant way to access this product,” added Nemil Dalal, Visiting Partner at Y Combinator.

“MochaTrade is the kind of bet we love at Pioneer Fund, a repeat technical founding team taking on entrenched financial infrastructure with a genuinely better product. Continuous markets and real-time settlement are not incremental improvements over the status quo, they are a step-change,” said David Gobaud of Pioneer Fund.

MochaTrade’s long-term goal is to broaden access to global financial markets for eligible users across emerging markets, subject to applicable laws and regulatory approvals.