Pico, provider of technology services, software, data and analytics for the financial markets community, has signed an agreement with Golden Gate Capital, the private equity investment firm, for a $200 million strategic investment. Pico will use the capital to pursue strategic M&A opportunities, and to extend its data offering and market coverage across all regions and asset classes.
“We are thrilled to have Golden Gate Capital as an investor and strategic partner,” says Jarrod Yuster, Chairman, Founder and CEO of Pico. “We’ve known Golden Gate Capital for about a year. They’re long-term oriented and extremely bright. They like our business, our team and our expansive global technology and data platform, which has become a critical part of the financial markets ecosystem. On top of that, they are very excited about M&A opportunities to leverage the platform, to provide new and differentiating services for our clients.”
Founded in 2009 to address trends in market electronification, Pico now offers a comprehensive range of services around financial trading, including cloud infrastructure, connectivity, data, software and analytic solutions, across the Americas, Europe and Asia, with more than 430 clients, including the top 25 global banks, 39 exchanges, and a number of electronic market makers and asset managers.
“With this investment, Pico will pursue a range of M&A opportunities and continue to build on the significant investments we’ve already made in our high-performance infrastructure and in expanding our data offering and market coverage across all regions and asset classes,” says Yuster. “Our global infrastructure and PicoNet connectivity is the foundation and main artery for delivering mission critical financial data, applications and services. So, we’ll be looking at what software applications and analytics integrate well into our environment to address the key macro trends of electronification of markets and global borderless trading and data access.”
Pico has a proven record of acquiring and integrating companies. In 2019 it acquired Corvil Analytics and earlier this year it acquired Redline Trading Solutions, a provider of trading and market data software solutions. “We’ve instrumented our global network with Corvil to provide differentiated operational excellence which is paramount to our sophisticated client base,” says Yuster. “With Redline, we’ve seen tremendous interest from existing clients wanting to use the product globally, across asset classes for high-performance market data consumption and low-latency order execution. We’ve advanced the European footprint and we’ve been making good progress in Asia. From an asset class coverage perspective, Redline is very strong in equities, options, futures and FX. We are now embarking with key clients on advancing its fixed income offering.”
With this investment, Golden Gate Capital joins strategic investors including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, J.P. Morgan, UBS, CE Innovation Capital, DRW Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Singapore-based global investor EDBI, Nomura and Chicago Trading Company.
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