• New York-based VanEck is partnering with a generative AI fintech and backing it with a $1.5 million investment.
• FinChat is a Toronto-based startup that offers generative AI software for investment research.
• A VanEck exec outlines how the money manager will use FinChat and why it invested in the startup.

The $119 billion money manager VanEck just threw its weight — and capital — behind a little-known fintech startup as the generative AI race heats up on Wall Street.

The New York-based investment firm is onboarding AI-powered investment software from Finchat for its employees to use and making a $1.5 million strategic investment into the startup through its venture business, Wyatt Lonergan, VanEck Ventures' general partner, told Business Insider.

FinChat is a Toronto-based global equities research platform. Much like ChatGPT's chat interface, investors can type questions and tasks into FinChat. It uses public and private data sets to generate answers that are used to create documents, charts, and presentations, among other Wall Street work staples.

Lonergan is betting FinChat will save his VanEck coworkers time and give them a leg up selling products like equities ETFs. He added that the company is also considering leveraging the tech in its crypto funds.

"What would previously take an analyst 30 hours to do, now you could write a prompt, have it go pull that data, and create a presentation for you" in about 30 minutes, said Lonergan, who joined VanEck from crypto fintech Circle in July.

Some use cases include building slide decks comparing VanEck's $22.6 billion semiconductor ETF with competitors' similar products. While on calls, salespeople can quickly answer questions in real time, like what the underlying assets in a specific ETF are.

Putting slides together used to involve pulling data, loading it into Excel, building a chart, and comparing that chart against another dataset. Then, employees would slot it into PowerPoint and send it to the client. FinChat also makes sharing this data and analysis with clients easier by aggregating that information into a link.

"This is where I think we're going. You're being able to pull these things in real time with very, very simple prompts, and I think that's the magic of AI," Lonergan said.

A closer look at how FinChat works

When FinChat cofounder Braden Dennis walked into the boardroom to pitch Jan VanEck, the firm's CEO, and other employees on his startup's generative AI software, he was pleasantly surprised he didn't have to do much.

"A few of the analysts, they took over the demo. They were showing the executives at the firm how they were really using it and loving it," Dennis told BI. For the next 20 minutes, the analysts showed the room exactly how he used the tech for the ETF business, Dennis said.

The startup, which launched in 2023, has made more than $2.5 million of annual recurring revenue and is growing about 15% month over month, Dennis said. He expects to close 2025 with about $10 million of ARR. FinChat has raised $3 million to date.

Behind the scenes, FinChat relies on several generative AI model providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and open-sourced models, to not be tied to just one company's progress. FinChat runs an evaluation test every week that compares the quality, speed, and cost of each model's response to common query types. Based on the test results, FinChat dynamically routes prompts to models with the best test results for that specific query.

For example, Dennis said FinChat found that Anthropic's model, Claude, is best at transcript summarization, whereas OpenAI is great at analyzing certain companies.

FinChat uses public data, like earnings presentations and SEC filings, and its own proprietary data, such as company-specific KPIs that break out specific revenue streams like ads versus subscriptions. Dennis said the startup is building a way for its platform to pull in enterprise clients' internal data, adding that the feature should be available by this summer. FinChat also uses data from third-party vendors.

The fintech also offers user-generated automated workflows for things like investment committee decks, one-page memos, or consolidating every income statement graph into one PDF.

Let's say it takes 15 prompts into FinChat for an analyst to put together an 8-page summary on why Spotify has a competitive moat. The analyst can save those prompts for the next time they need to do a similar report for Apple Music or Tidal.

The goal with FinChat is not to automate people's jobs away, Dennis said, but the redundant parts of their jobs, like data aggregation, the first steps of building models, and paperwork.

"These are not things that an analyst would say is what makes them great. What makes them great is the thinking, the decision-making, the client relationships," Dennis said.

"Let's save the paperwork for the robots and the thinking and collaborating for the humans," he said.

• I'm a chef who uses an air fryer for everything from breakfast to dinner.
• The compact countertop appliance offers an ideal way to make egg bites, potatoes, and cauliflower.
• I've also found simple recipes for air-fried cheesecake and French toast.

I trained as a chef and have worked in kitchens from Scotland to Sydney and Toronto to Martha's Vineyard.

With all that experience, I still think air fryers are one of the best kitchen hacks. I've tested a few varieties, but I usually find myself going back to my small, single-basket, 5-quart air fryer.

If you're looking for quick, easy snacks and meals, I keep coming back to these seven essential air-fryer recipes.

A sweet, salty breakfast sandwich is a brilliant start to any day.

One of the most requested air-fried items in my house is based on a breakfast I cooked in Dublin that led to a half dozen dirty pots and pans. Luckily, for this recipe, all I need is my air fryer and two ramekins.

Add 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and ¼ cup of chopped onion to a ramekin and mix well. Oil a second ramekin and crack an egg into it.

Slice a bun and put it face down next to both ramekins in the air-fryer basket. Place a few strips of bacon on a rack above the egg.

After three minutes, flip the buns, add sliced cheddar, and cook for about seven minutes — or until egg and bacon are to your liking.

Pile the onions, egg, and bacon onto the bun and serve with sliced tomato or tangy Irish Ballymaloe relish.

Anyone can throw together eggy breakfast bites — they're that easy.

I've adapted one of my favorite frittata recipes from the blog Every Little Crumb into a quick and easy air-fryer breakfast.

It has Mexican-inspired flavors and is made with eggs, cheese, cilantro, black olives, cherry tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, and red onion.

Basically, I halve the written recipe and pour the mixture into oiled silicone muffin cups that are super easy to clean and fit nicely in my air-fryer basket.

Air-fry at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes, and you have a tasty, portable breakfast.

I can make fantastic French-toast fingers in minutes.

I love Nigella Lawson's doughnut French toast, and it's even easier to make it in the air fryer.

She recommends soaking the bread in a mixture of eggs, milk, and vanilla extract for at least five to 10 minutes. Then, I slice the bread into fingers to fit more in my air-fryer basket and cook them at 375 degrees for four to six minutes on each side.

If your toast seems to be drying out, try spraying the basket with some oil before cooking.

Serve with a sprinkling of powdered sugar for an extra decadent breakfast.

Air-fried cheesecake is one of my go-to desserts.

One of my all-time favorite air-fryer desserts is the cheesecake recipe I found on Eating Well. It's super quick and easy, and you end up with cute bite-sized treats.

Start by crumbling up some graham crackers (gingersnaps and shortbread also work great) and combining them with sugar and butter.

Then, mix the cream cheese, yogurt, vanilla extract, egg, sugar, and lemon zest and divide it into muffin cups on top of the crumbly crust.

Preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees and put the mini cheesecakes in for eight to 10 minutes. Chill in the fridge for an hour and serve with compote, fresh fruit, or jam.

Twice-baked potatoes are twice as delicious in the air fryer.

The cooking time for baked potatoes can really depend on the type of air fryer you have. It takes a little experimenting — for example, when I used a larger air fryer, I had to cook them at a higher temperature for longer.

In my 5-quart basket, I air-fry my potatoes at 400 degrees for 45 minutes before scooping out the insides, mashing them up with toppings, and refilling the spuds.

Then, they go back in for about five minutes. The second baking brings out extra crispiness to the potato skin and extra creaminess to its insides.

The blog Cooking with Coit has a great basic recipe for the flavorings. I serve those spuds with classic toppings like bacon, more cheese, or coleslaw.

I've also had success with adding a teaspoon of gochujang paste to the mash and topping it with kimchi and green onions.

Sweet, sticky, crispy Buffalo cauliflower is the perfect snack or side.

I can whip up cauliflower Buffalo "wings" in less than 30 minutes.

I've tried tons of different recipes, but I've settled on one from the blog Love and Lemons. Using an air fryer shortens the cooking time, and they still come out extra sticky and delicious.

Quickly whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and water to make a batter for the cauliflower florets. Once they're well coated, they can go in the air fryer at 450 degrees for eight to 10 minutes.

Take the cauliflower out, brush the florets with Buffalo sauce (bottled or homemade), and pop them back in for another eight to 10 minutes.

Serve with ranch, blue cheese, more Buffalo sauce, or all of the above.

Irresistible caramelized bananas are super simple.

One of the simplest things I've made in an air fryer might also be my favorite: caramelized bananas.

I particularly like a recipe from the blog Girls Who Eat. It's really as simple as slicing a banana in half (or slices or chunks), brushing both sides with oil, ghee, or butter (I like coconut oil), dusting both sides with brown sugar and cinnamon, and popping them in the air fryer at 370 degrees for three to five minutes per side.

If you're short on time, slightly ripe bananas tend to cook faster and caramelize splendidly.

I also like adding ground cardamom and a dash of nutmeg to my cinnamon-sugar mixture and serving with ice cream.

• Demand for consulting firms has been down in key markets like the US and UK.
• However, the advisory business is booming in Gulf states thanks to national development projects.
• Working on major national projects is giving consultants "unique" influence in the region, experts told BI.

Recent years have been tough for the consulting business. Growth has plummeted in some key markets, and the challenging economic climate has led to layoffs and restructuring at major firms. But one region is proving to be a consulting bright spot.

International consultancies are finding success in the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC — a political and economic bloc that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman.

According to Source Global, a UK-based research firm that tracks the consulting industry, the GCC consulting market grew 13.2% in 2023.

Source Global's research found that in the more mature US and British markets, growth in 2023 slowed to 5.2% and 4.7%, respectively. In previous years, growth in both countries had been in double digits.

Dane Albertelli, a senior analyst at Source Global, told Business Insider that the scale of growth in the GCC advisory market is "unprecedented" and that it has become "the place for opportunity and the place where these companies can make a lot of money."

Albertelli said that data for 2024 has yet to be finalized but that the GCC market was expected to have accelerated by more than 15%.

A 'cascade' of opportunities

Opportunities for consultants in the GCC started with the UAE roughly 20 years ago, when its government poured resources into plans to diversify its economy away from oil.

Heavy investment in tourism, aviation, real estate, and financial services led to the need for planning and technical expertise. Consulting firms started to pour money and resources into meeting the needs of the Emirati government, and "it's just been a cascade from there," Albertelli said.

The scale of Western consulting firms' presence in Gulf nations is apparent in the volume of offices they have in the region. All of the Big Four — Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG — have 10 or more offices in GCC countries, while McKinsey has eight, BCG has six, and Accenture has four. The UAE is a particular hot spot, with Deloitte having nine offices in the country.

Saudi Arabia has been leading the drive in recent years with its Vision 2030 strategy, a $1 trillion project to reduce reliance on oil revenues and boost the country's standing on the global stage.

The centerpiece of Vision 2030 is Neom, an ambitious megacity and tourism hot spot being built in the country's northern deserts. But Saudi Arabia is also planning to construct a whole new district in Riyadh, preparing to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games and the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and aiming to become a "national champion" in AI.

Dubai is now a tourism and expat hot spot, and the UAE's economy is booming. But the drive for growth and the need for consultants hasn't stopped — the current push is toward healthcare innovation with the aim of becoming a medical tourism hub.

Similar tourism, sport, technology, and infrastructure initiatives are underway in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.

"That naturally translates into an awful lot of advisory work," Albertelli said. International consultants are being called in to design and implement projects ranging from transportation networks and city construction to education reform and public sector tech systems.

Such projects have not been without controversy. Saudi Arabia has been accused of human rights abuses against local tribespeople living close to the site of Neom, while hundreds of migrant workers were acknowledged to have died in Qatar in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup.

Albertelli said that while they spend to diversify away from reliance on petrochemical dollars, the Gulf nations' backlog of oil funds has ensured that the advisory sector avoids the macroeconomic tension that has hit the European and US advisory markets.

Barring any massive geopolitical tension, opportunities aren't going anywhere, Albertelli said. He expects the rate of growth to continue for several years and says the main change to the market will be that, as infrastructure gets built, the work will shift from strategy to operations advice.

From the pull factor of little to no income tax to the recent opening up of society, the region has plenty to attract consultants besides a steady stream of projects.

"If you don't mind a bit of sun, it's probably the best place to go for your career," Albertelli said.

A unique market

The GCC consulting market is unique in that most firms' clients are national governments rather than private companies, giving international firms a significant role in shaping the public sector.

"The degree of access and influence that consultancies have over policymaking is far more extensive than what you see in most other regions," Dawud Ansari, President of the Majan Council, an Omani think tank focused on development in the Gulf region, told BI. "They don't just refine policies or draft reports — they design entire national visions and, in some cases, effectively take over the steering wheel of major policy initiatives."

"Most Gulf states have a limited number of national think tanks and independent expertise, meaning that when a decision needs to be made, the instinct is usually to bring in an external, mostly foreign, consultant," al-Ansari told BI.

"They come from a completely different cultural and institutional background, which inevitably affects how they operate and how aligned their recommendations are with local realities."

Al-Ansari said that the continued reliance on external expertise for policymaking could erode public trust and restrict nationals from developing career paths in public policy.

As the market continues to grow, a rising number of local boutique advisory firms are being created. The Saudi government's "Saudization" policy — which enforces a quota system on high-value industries — is also resulting in more nationals entering the offices of international consultancies.

Albertelli told BI that most Gulf states are focused on the outcomes and care about the brand rather than the nationality of consultants.

"All the big countries in the GCC want the best talent and they're willing to spend no matter where it's from. Obviously, these are all big Western companies, but I think they realize that, particularly with the Big Four, they're massive international firms," he said.

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