Partners & Team

Built by people who trade cotton

Cotton AI isn't an idea from a lab. It's built by practitioners who've spent years on the trading side of this industry — and partnered with world-class AI engineers to turn that experience into software.

Founder
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Omer Yahya

Founder & CEO, Cotton AI Inc.

Omer brings a unique combination of quantitative finance training, hands-on commodity trading experience, and AI product development to Cotton AI. His background spans both sides of the cotton market — the trading floor and the analytics lab.

Through YS Group, Omer has been immersed in the mechanics of international cotton indenting — origin selection, basis negotiation, fixation timing, and the commercial relationships that move raw materials across continents. Cotton AI was born from seeing firsthand how much value is lost when these decisions are made without data.

  • MBA Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto — Data Analytics & Modeling (Full-Time MBA)
  • Undergrad Bentley University — B.S. in Corporate Finance & Accounting
  • Industry Executive Director, YS Group
  • Trading Active ICE Cotton No. 2 futures & options positions via StoneX Financial
  • Program Rotman Flexible Internship Program (FIP) — Startup Track
  • Achievements & Certifications Dean's List · GMAT 780 · Bloomberg Certified · ICA Arbitration Certified · Member, Rotman Finance Association
Partners

Industry knowledge meets AI engineering

YS Group

Industry & Data

Our partnership with YS Group gives us access to decades of cotton fixation data. Our predictive models are trained on over a million metric tons from the last 5 years — the most relevant window for current market conditions.

Ample Insight

Engineering & AI

Led by Garry Ma, Ample Insight is a Toronto-based AI and engineering firm building Cotton AI's product — from AI pipeline and model architecture to data science and full-stack development.

Visit Ample Insight →
Key People

The team behind Cotton AI

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Omer Yahya

Founder & CEO

Rotman MBA. Bentley University. Executive Director of YS Group. Active ICE Cotton No. 2 trader. Built Cotton AI from the intersection of commodity trading and artificial intelligence.

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Garry Ma

AI & Engineering Lead — Ample Insight

Founder of Ample Insight. Toronto-based AI consulting and engineering. Responsible for Cotton AI's model architecture, data pipeline, and full-stack product development.

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Abdullah Saad

Distribution Partner — Pakistan

Distribution agent with exclusive distribution rights for Cotton AI across Pakistan, excluding YS Group clients. Brings direct mill-side relationships and market access to drive customer acquisition and product adoption.

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Khurram Iqbal

CEO, YS Group

CEO of YS Group, overseeing all cotton indenting operations. Khurram plays a key role in training Cotton AI's models, applying his deep knowledge of cotton procurement — origin selection, basis negotiation, and fixation timing — to ensure the AI's recommendations reflect how deals actually get done on the ground.

Get Started

Join our founding partners

We're onboarding our first group of mills. Early access partners receive Pro-tier features at heavily discounted prices — plus sponsored trips to our Toronto office where the product is being developed by professional data scientists and AI engineers.

Request Early Access Explore the Platform