A former Amazon Alexa scientist has secured $6.5 million for a startup aiming to introduce foundational AI to the global investment community.
Unusual Ventures led the funding round, with contributions from Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and Clocktower Ventures.
UK-based Theia Insights is leveraging AI, machine learning, large language models (LLMs), and Natural Language Processing to create models grounded in advanced financial mathematics. Their goal is to “rebuild the infrastructural technologies that underpin the $100 trillion investment industry.”
The company is focused on developing three key technologies: dynamic industry classification, thematic risk modeling, and portfolio analysis. Founded by Ye Tian, who has a background in NLP and previously worked as a research scientist at Amazon Alexa, Theia has assembled a team of experts from prominent organizations such as Nasdaq, Morgan Stanley, Meta, UC Berkeley, and the University of Cambridge’s Computer Science Department.
Tian remarked, “We live in the age of data overflow—everything from geopolitics to financial filings, to social media and news. It’s often overwhelming and easy to get lost in the noise.
“But good investment decisions require clarity, and that is where AI can play an unrivaled role—by lifting us from the valley to the mountain top. This allows us to choose the paths we want to take by seeing where each path leads and how they connect.”