Vertus, an AI company based on the Isle of Man, says it generated returns of more than 51 percent in 2025 while trading over 500 million dollars a day. Not a simulation. Not a backtest. A full calendar year of live market activity involving real capital. According to the company, these results have been independently verified by Alpha Performance Verification Services, a certified public accounting firm.
According to the company, its performance exceeded that of a number of established hedge funds during a year that proved difficult for many quantitative and AI-driven strategies.
In April 2025, global markets were hit by a sharp wave of volatility following significant changes in US trade policy. Many systems built primarily on historical pattern recognition struggled to adapt to rapidly changing conditions.
Vertus says its system adapted differently.
The company describes its technology as a cognitive reasoning architecture designed to revise its assumptions as conditions change rather than relying solely on historical pattern recognition. According to Vertus, 11 months during 2025 were positive, with one period of drawdown recovered within 10 days.
So who built this thing?
Julius Franck is a German quantitative researcher who graduated valedictorian from Nürtingen-Geislingen University before continuing his studies in South Korea, where he completed a Master of Science in International Finance at Sogang University.
Michal Prywata is a Polish-Canadian engineer and entrepreneur whose previous work has included biomedical engineering, robotics, and aerospace ventures. Before Vertus, he co-founded Quantum Cognition alongside Alex Foster, where the pair began exploring machine reasoning systems designed for financial environments.
Foster, a British entrepreneur, says he made his first trade at fourteen and funded much of his education and earlier business ventures through trading profits. He later became involved in the development of algorithmic trading systems and AI-focused financial infrastructure.
On paper, the three founders had little in common. One came from quantitative finance, another from biomedical engineering and aerospace, and the third from trading and systems development. Their paths eventually converged around a shared belief that many AI systems still rely too heavily on prediction rather than adaptive reasoning.
The first thread connecting them was Quantum Cognition, an AI research venture co-founded by Foster and Prywata, where the group began exploring what machine reasoning systems might look like in high-consequence financial environments. Franck later joined through that shared conviction.
The technology is now being extended beyond finance into areas including healthcare, scientific research, and infrastructure, where decision-making under changing conditions carries significant real-world consequences.
They built Vertus on the Isle of Man, a self-governing island in the Irish Sea better known internationally for motorcycle racing and offshore finance than artificial intelligence research.
Whether Vertus ultimately lives up to its ambitions remains to be seen. But after a year that appears to have drawn growing attention from parts of the financial world, the company is beginning to step into the spotlight.
The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Readers should conduct their own independent research and consult qualified financial professionals before making investment or financial decisions. Any performance figures or company statements referenced in this article are attributed to the company unless otherwise independently verified.
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