About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Metamako Makes First Acquisition as it Takes on xCelor’s Hardware Business

Subscribe to our newsletter

Metamako has acquired the network device business of Chicago based xCelor, bringing xCelor hardware customers into the Metamako fold and allowing xCelor to concentrate on developing high-performance network applications that will be provided on Metamako hardware. This is Metamako’s first acquisition and a strategic milestone for the provider of low-latency FPGA-enabled network solutions.

Sydney based Metamako has grown quickly since it came to market in 2013, developing a client base of over 100 companies, building its own applications such as the MetaWatch network monitoring solution and MetaFilter FPGA app that delivers ultra low-latency market data filtering. It has also built an ecosystem of partners writing apps for its devices, while customers can also write their own apps for the devices.

The acquisition moves Metamako another step forward, adding xCelor’s switch business, six hardware customers and another app partner. It also sets a precedent for further inorganic growth.

Kevin Covington, CEO at Metamako, says: “The company will be five years old next month. It is backed by private and venture funding and has grown well. It has been cashflow positive since its early years and its profitability means it could reinvest in skills and capabilities. We have now added to this by acquiring assets from xCelor. Our goal is to be the industry’s platform of choice for high-performance in network devices and applications.”

Rob Walker, chief technology officer at xCelor, describes the acquisition as a win-win for both the firms and the industry as a whole. He says: “While Metamako strengthens its hardware business, xCelor can completely focus on developing cutting-edge network applications, something we have wanted to do for a few months.”

Metamako recently opened a Chicago office to support the acquisition and expand its presence and support offer in North America. Beyond headquarters in Sydney, it also has offices in New York and London. Covington notes that while Australia hosts the company’s core engineering skills base, 90% of its customers are elsewhere.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Data platform modernisation: Best practice approaches for unifying data, real time data and automated processing

Financial institutions are evolving their data platform modernisation programmes, moving beyond data-for-cloud capabilities and increasingly towards artificial intelligence-readiness. This has shifted the data management focus in the direction of data unification, real-time delivery and automated governance. The drivers of this transition are improved operational efficiency as manual processes are replaced by faster, more accurate automated...

BLOG

Industry Cautiously Backs EU Market Reform Ambitions, But Warns Execution Risks Loom Large

A panel at A-Team’s Group’s TradingTech Summit London 2026 offered a broadly supportive but clear-eyed assessment of the EU’s Savings and Investment Union (SIU) package, welcoming the shift toward a competitiveness agenda but warning the reforms risk falling short without bolder action on post-trade interoperability, data quality and regulatory simplification. The session, “The Evolution of...

EVENT

Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference, Spring, New York, hosted by A-Team Group

Now in its 9th year, the Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference managed by A-Team Group, is the premier content forum and networking event for investment firms and hedge funds.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...