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November 22, 2021 | Transactions, M&A

Zelig advises TickTrade on sale to smartTrade (majority-owned by Hg)

smartTrade Group (“smartTrade”), a leader in multi-asset electronic trading solutions, today announced the acquisition of TickTrade Systems Inc. (“TickTrade”), a Toronto-based technology firm providing next-generation FX trading and payments SaaS solutions for financial institutions. Both companies provide liquidity management solutions and FX trading systems that enable financial institutions to develop and run high-performance trading platforms throughout the […]

smartTrade Group (“smartTrade”), a leader in multi-asset electronic trading solutions, today announced the acquisition of TickTrade Systems Inc. (“TickTrade”), a Toronto-based technology firm providing next-generation FX trading and payments SaaS solutions for financial institutions.

Both companies provide liquidity management solutions and FX trading systems that enable financial institutions to develop and run high-performance trading platforms throughout the world. Together the business will serve a truly global client base across North America, Europe and Asia.

The combination of smartTrade and TickTrade represents a compelling strategic fit providing customers with highly complementary SaaS, electronic FX trading products. The combined company will deliver the best of both industry-leading FX trading technologies – smartTrade’s connectivity, aggregation, and risk management technology with TickTrade’s analytics, payments, and rich advanced distribution technology.

The combined company will offer the most comprehensive eFX solutions for financial institutions worldwide.

The company will operate under the smartTrade name and David Vincent, smartTrade’s CEO, will lead the combined organization as its CEO. TickTrade’s co-founders, Baha Ohcebol and Alexander Culiniac, will maintain senior management roles within the combined business, while also remaining significant investors in the group.

Hg, a leading software and services investor which has backed smartTrade since 2020, will remain a majority investor in the combined group, along with longstanding investors Keensight and Pléiade. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“For both smartTrade and TickTrade customers, the combination is extremely compelling. It brings two industry-leading technologies together – one complementing the other, creating a unique breadth and depth product capabilities.”
David Vincent (Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, smartTrade Group)
“This is great news for TickTrade customers. To have the backing of smartTrade and Hg means we can significantly build on and continue to innovate the products we know our clients highly value. This also offers further opportunities for product collaboration, wider distribution and cutting-edge innovation – meaning we can bring even better services to even more clients.”
Baha Ohcebol (Co-Founder, TickTrade)
“This is great news for TickTrade’s customers who have supported us and for employees who have worked so hard to build the business to this stage since we first founded TickTrade back in 2013. smartTrade is a highly innovative company and this next move in the business’ history supports our vision to be the premier integrated trading technology partner for financial institutions, providing innovative and world-class solutions across all asset classes.”
Alexander Culiniac (Co-Founder, TickTrade)

Zelig acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to TickTrade.

About TickTrade Systems Inc.

TickTrade Systems Inc. is a Toronto-based e-Trading SaaS software solutions firm with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. The company was founded in 2013 by capital markets experts who set out to liberate how a trading platform should be built. The company offers a complete end-to-end trading and payments solution that covers pre- and post-trade workflows for FX spot, forwards, swaps, NDFs, time options, FX options and global payments. TickTrade’ s modular components easily address specific needs and integrate with proprietary systems, reducing time-to-market and technology investments. The platform’s AI-powered analytics and reporting solutions enable clients to capture, analyse and predict customer, industry and liquidity provider behaviour.

Visit www.ticktradesystems.com for more information.

About smartTrade Technologies

smartTrade Technologies, a pioneer in multi-asset electronic trading solutions, delivers innovative and intelligent technology enabling clients to focus on their trading and grow their business while lowering total cost of ownership and allowing them to quickly adapt to changing industry requirements.

smartTrade Technologies provides agile end-to-end trading solutions supporting Foreign Exchange, Fixed Income, Equities and Derivatives asset classes with connectivity to over 130 liquidity providers, aggregation, smart order routing, order management, pricing, distribution, risk management capabilities and a HTML5 user interface. The company works with a variety of clients ranging from banks, brokers and hedge funds to proprietary trading desks.

Visit www.smart-trade.net for more information.

About Hg

Hg is a leading investor in software and services, focused on backing businesses that change how we all do business. Deep technology expertise, complemented by vertical application specialisation and dedicated operational support, provides a compelling proposition to management teams looking to scale their businesses. Hg has funds under management of around $40 billion, with an investment team of over 140 professionals, plus a portfolio team of around 40 operators, providing practical support to help its businesses to realise their growth ambitions. Based in London, Munich and New York, Hg has a portfolio of over 35 software and technology businesses, worth around $92 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 55,000 employees globally, growing at over 20% per year.

Visit www.hgcapital.com for more information.

About Zelig

Zelig is an independent investment banking firm focused exclusively on FinTech and related technologies. With a core team in London, New York and Mumbai, supported by a network of senior advisors around the world, we provide M&A and capital raising advice to entrepreneurs, corporates and investors globally.

For more information on Zelig, please reach out to us or visit
www.zeligfintech.com.