Miami International Holdings Inc, owners of the Bermuda Stock Exchange, are among the lead investors in an oversubscribed $4.1 million seed round of New York-based Options AI, which calls itself a unique brokerage platform putting option spreads in the toolkit of retail investors.

In addition to MIH, the funding round was led by Akuna Capital and Optiver Principal Strategic Investments, with participation from ViewTrade Holdings.

John Foley, CEO of Options AI, said: "Technology has helped fuel a resurgence in active investing, but it hasn't levelled the playing field for retail investors.

"With options, the focus has been on getting investors to their first-trade, not improving access to more advanced trades. That puts retail investors at a disadvantage and is why we built Options AI to be the first platform where it's as straightforward to trade multi-leg spreads as it is to buy a stock."

As the number of retail investors has grown in recent years, the company said, so too has participation in the options market — not just from those seeking outsized returns but also active investors wanting option spreads for purposes of income generation, to risk less capital or as a stock alternative.

But for many, Options AI said, a lack of innovation combined with inherent market complexities means that the path to more advanced trading remains highly challenging.

Options AI said it is out to change that.

Mr Foley said: "It's time to upgrade the entire options experience for retail investors. We've designed Options AI as a co-pilot through the options chain. A simple and intuitive interface that gives newer investors the confidence to graduate to spreads combined with powerful features to give savvy investors the most efficient trading experience."

Options AI said that it currently sees more than 80 per cent of its trading volume in multi-leg option spreads and has relied largely on organic growth to date.

"We're extremely excited to be partnering with such high-quality strategic investors who understand the opportunity and share in our vision of bringing not just smarter options but also higher-quality execution to retail investors," Mr Foley says.

Miami International Holdings Inc also owns Miami International Securities Exchange, MIAX Pearl LLC, MIAX Emerald LLC and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange LLC.