Capitolis Attracts Further Funding; High Profile Directors

Financial markets optimization services provider Capitolis has announced a Series D funding found that values the company at $1.6 billion. The fund raise was co-led by fintech investors Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and SVB Capital, existing investors in Capitolis include a16z, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, S Capital, Spark Capital, Citi, State Street and JP Morgan.

In connection with the funding round, Jeffrey Goldstein, senior advisor at Canapi Ventures, Dan Beldy, partner at Canapi Ventures, and George Osborne, founding partner at 9Yards, join the Capitolis Board of Directors. All bring financial services and technology expertise and important experience on policy issues related to banking, regulatory reform and financial stability. Previously, Osborne served as an advisor to BlackRock following his role as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer; Goldstein, who sits on the board of directors of Bank of New York Mellon, previously served as managing director and chief financial officer of the World Bank; Beldy is a founding partner at Canapi Ventures and previously served as managing director of Steamboat Ventures, the venture arm of The Walt Disney Company.

“The additions of Jeffrey Goldstein, George Osborne and Dan Beldy to the Capitolis board of directors will strengthen an already world-class board,” says Tom Glocer, executive chairman and co-founder of Capitolis. “In particular, their years of experience in balancing sound regulatory policy and financial stability with innovation in financial markets will help guide Capitolis as we scale our technology and impact in global capital markets.”

Gil Mandelzis, CEO and founder of Capitolis, adds, “Over the past two years, our vision to reinvent capital markets has gained tremendous momentum as we have tripled our revenue, customer base and team,” says Gil Mandelzis, CEO and founder of Capitolis. “We are just scratching the surface on reimagining the capital markets. We are thrilled to have partners like Canapi, 9Yards, and SVB Capital who bring strategic expertise, a true passion for the mission and a powerful network to leverage as we embark on our next chapter of growth.”

With UMR rules eating further into capital markets, focus on capital optimisation services such as those provided by Capitolis are likely to be in greater demand. Earlier this month the firm conducted an optimisation run that reduced a number of banks’ Russian rouble exposures. This latest funding round for the firm, which was founded in 2017, brings the amount raised to $280 million.

“As an existing investor and commercial partner to Capitolis, we have seen firsthand the notable understanding Capitolis has in providing solutions to marketplace participants to achieve their business goals,” says Tilli Bannett, managing partner, SVB Capital. “We continue to be impressed by the company’s deep expertise and creativity in making capital markets more efficient, thereby freeing up necessary resources for participants to innovate and deliver financial solutions customers need.”

Tobias Krause, senior managing director, State Street, says, “We are impressed with Capitolis’ vision of creating a healthier, safer, efficient marketplace for matchmaking, discovery and resource optimization. At State Street, we have benefitted from dynamically reducing, and optimizing our exposures, which has created even more capacity to serve our clients in our growing business.”

For Mandelzis, the latest funding provides a springboard for the firm to leverage what has been a strong start to life as a business. “We are now moving to the next phase of growth for Capitolis as we grow exponentially year after year and deliver increased innovation for capital markets,” he says. “Just two years after launch, the capital marketplace business has already transacted $ 60 billion-plus notional from over 30 investors. Capitolis has optimised over $13 trillion in trades through its compression and novation engine, serving over 100 financial institutions. Our vision is becoming a reality and we look forward to super-charging our marketplace in the months and years to follow.”