Hedge-fund billionaire and New York Mets owner Steven A. Cohen is backing a startup that wants to let investors trade stocks 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Point72 Ventures, Mr. Cohen’s early-stage venture-capital fund, is leading a $14.25 million funding round for 24 Exchange. The companies announced the transaction Wednesday after it was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

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Hedge-fund billionaire and New York Mets owner Steven A. Cohen is backing a startup that wants to let investors trade stocks 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Point72 Ventures, Mr. Cohen’s early-stage venture-capital fund, is leading a $14.25 million funding round for 24 Exchange. The companies announced the transaction Wednesday after it was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Founded in 2018, 24 Exchange has already launched foreign-exchange and cryptocurrency-trading platforms. It is seeking Securities and Exchange Commission approval to run a round-the-clock stock exchange.

U.S. stocks are mostly traded on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, a legacy of the days before computerized trading. There are limited opportunities to trade in the early morning and evening, but practically no trading is available on weekends and holidays.

24 Exchange is betting that individual traders accustomed to continuous trading of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies—a global market that never stops—want a similar experience in stocks. Some analysts have questioned its premise, though, arguing that trading volumes would be thin in the U.S. overnight hours, resulting in volatile prices.

Point72 Ventures partner Pete Casella said 24-hour equities trading has a large potential market, including nonprofessionals trading from home and overseas investors with an appetite for U.S. stocks.

“When you look at the growth of equities trading over the last couple of years, a lot of that has been the increased role of retail,” Mr. Casella said in an interview. “These are people with day jobs, so they want to trade at night and on weekends.”

Still, it may take some time for 24 Exchange to launch round-the-clock stock trading, in part because of the lengthy SEC approval process, Mr. Casella said. The startup has shorter-term plans that Point72 Ventures is optimistic about, including crypto-linked financial products that could be attractive to banks and traditional asset managers, he said.

Dmitri Galinov,

founder and chief executive of 24 Exchange, said in an interview that his firm expects to complete its application to start a U.S. stock exchange by the end of December. It would likely be well into 2022 before the SEC issues its final approval or rejection.

Point72 Ventures has invested in a number of financial-technology ventures since it was formed in 2016. They include microinvesting-app maker Acorns Grow Inc. and Say Technologies, a shareholder-voting startup that was acquired by Robinhood Markets Inc. in August.

Mr. Cohen has become increasingly active in crypto this year. In September he agreed to back Radkl, a quantitative-trading firm specializing in digital assets. Mr. Cohen made the investment personally rather than through Point72 Ventures.

24 Exchange declined to disclose its valuation and didn’t name the other participants in the funding round. Previous investors in the startup include international banking group Standard Chartered PLC.

The startup’s parent company, 24 Exchange Bermuda Ltd., is incorporated in Bermuda, but its proposed stock exchange would be run by a U.S. subsidiary. It has offices in Stamford, Conn., and Miami.

After scientists identified a new variant of the virus causing Covid-19, countries restricted travel to and from southern Africa. WSJ’s Anna Hirtenstein explains that investors have turned to bonds and gold as they prepare for more potential disruption. Photo: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition

Write to Alexander Osipovich at alexander.osipovich@dowjones.com