Synthera, a groundbreaking fintech company rethinking financial market analysis through synthetic data powered by generative AI, has closed a $1.86 million pre-seed funding round.
The round was led by Motive Ventures and attracted prominent investors, including Entrepreneur First, Transpose Platform, KDX, BuenTrip Ventures, Robin Capital, Angel Invest, and several notable angel investors.
For decades, financial institutions have relied on historical datasets and parametric models, like Monte Carlo simulations, to forecast risks, test strategies, and optimize portfolios. These methods, while industry standard, are deeply flawed—they overfit past data, ignore dynamic market shifts, and miss crucial non-linear patterns, leaving investors vulnerable to unexpected risks.
Synthera tackles these limitations head-on by creating synthetic financial data that generates realistic market scenarios. Using proprietary generative AI models, the platform enables investment teams to:
● More accurately forecast risks, including tail events that fall outside historical norms.
● Identify non-linear correlations for improved hedging and diversification.
● Stress-test portfolios with bespoke, forward-looking scenarios.
● Backtest strategies across thousands of unseen, realistic market trajectories.
“By bridging the gaps in traditional approaches, Synthera provides financial institutions with the tools to anticipate and navigate market complexities in ways that weren’t possible before,” said Mariana Barona, Co-Founder and CEO of Synthera. “This fresh funding allows us to bring our solution to market and help investment teams unlock better, data-driven decisions.”
Synthera’s innovative approach has garnered strong support from well known investors. The pre-seed round was led by Motive Ventures and included investments from Entrepreneur First, Transpose Platform, KDX -which is led by Ashby Monk, Professor and Senior Research Engineer at Stanford, and expert in Long Term Investing - BuenTrip Ventures, Robin Capital, and Angel Invest. Additionally, angel investors such as a former Citadel Portfolio Manager and seasoned asset managers have joined the round, underscoring the broad appeal and confidence in Synthera’s vision.
Michael Hock, Partner at Motive Ventures, commented:
“Synthera is solving a fundamental problem in the financial industry: the inability of historical data and traditional models to account for the realities of today’s markets. By leveraging cutting-edge generative AI, they are creating a product that addresses a critical need for financial institutions looking to improve risk management and portfolio outcomes. We’re proud to back such a visionary team.”
Synthera was founded by a team with complementary skills and deep industry experience:
● Mariana Barona, a Cambridge graduate originally from Colombia, previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, specializing in fiduciary management and quantitative equities for institutional investors.
● Lukas Schreiner, holding three master’s degrees in Artificial Intelligence, Business and Economics, and Quantitative Finance and Economics from the Universities of St. Gallen and Maastricht, is a seasoned quant with over five years of experience in AI and machine learning for financial markets, having worked at LPA and Swiss Quant.
The team is further supported by Oxford Professor Rama Cont, a globally renowned expert in quantitative finance and risk management, who serves as Synthera’s Scientific Advisor.
With the funding, Synthera will accelerate product development, expand its team of engineers and data scientists, and partner with leading financial institutions to pilot its technology. The company’s goal is to enable hedge funds, asset managers, pension funds, and banks to uncover deeper insights and enhance risk-adjusted returns.
“Our technology is not just about improving what exists—it’s about redefining how investment teams think about data and risk in a dynamic market environment,” added Barona.