Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 1 August 2018

Barclays Leads $14 Million Raise as Cloud9 Looks to Digitize Trader Voice Communication

Cloud9 Technologies, a financial communications provider, has completed a $14 million Series B investment fundraising, led by Barclays and including JPMorgan and NEX Group.

The proceeds will be used to accelerate development and global roll-out of its SaaS-based voice communications platform, which provides a comprehensive cloud-based replacement to traditional trading “turrets”; immediate access to a growing pool of liquidity; full interoperability with third-party systems; and real-time provision of high-fidelity audio, trading metadata and transcription.

In addition to its investment, Barclays will work with Cloud9 on the acceleration of the Company’s adoption across the industry. This follows JPMorgan’s earlier decision to onboard more than 2,000 internal traders and salespeople to Cloud9 as its primary tool for voice communication between the bank and its clients globally.

“Despite being a cornerstone of global financial markets, voice trading and its data have been siloed off from the intelligence that fuel capital markets strategies,” said Gerald Starr, CEO of Cloud9. “With the financial and strategic commitment of industry leaders such as Barclays, JPMorgan and NEX Group, we’re equipped to rapidly grow our role as the new standard for voice trading communications world-wide – ushering in an era in which voice is viewed as a key business asset.”

Thomson Reuters Eikon to Display Data on 50 Cryptocurrencies From Cryptocompare

CryptoCompare, the global cryptocurrency market data aggregator, has entered into a strategic partnership with Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of news and information for professional markets.

Under the agreement, CryptoCompare will integrate order book and trade data for 50 coins, sourced from a wide variety of trusted exchanges, into Thomson Reuters financial desktop platform Eikon, providing institutional investors with reliable insight into the crypto asset market as a whole.

Thomson Reuters Eikon is a powerful and intuitive next-generation solution for consuming real-time and historical data, enabling financial markets transactions and connecting with the financial markets community. Its award-winning news, analytics and data visualization tools help its users make more efficient trading and investment decisions across asset classes and instruments including commodities, derivatives, equities, fixed income and foreign exchange. Eikon is an open platform, customizable to the individual needs of a financial professional or institution.

Adding CryptoCompare’s data to the Eikon platform will allow trading professionals and investors to gain a comprehensive view of the cryptocurrencies market and of market participant behaviour, enabling them to predict price movements with a high degree of probability. Eikon users will be able to see data for actively trading coins, allowing them to identify the specific buy and sell opportunities, expand their digital asset portfolios and make profitable investment decisions.

Smartkarma expands to North America with its innovative research platform for unconflicted and independent research in Asian equities

Smartkarma, a global network for independent research on Asian markets, announces its partnership with CorpXSasia, the leading Corporate Access provider in Asia that arranges unconflicted and regulatory-compliant meetings between global institutional investors and listed corporates in Asia.

This partnership brings value to both companies’ clients by providing a more comprehensive, one-stop opportunity for both Corporate Access and valuable insights, particularly as these markets open up with the onset of MiFID II regulation. CorpXSasia’s client base of institutional investors seek to meet with corporations through Reverse Roadshows, Thematic Roadshows and NDR’s. Smartkarma can make sure these clients are better serviced in their need for critical and quality insights, whether prior to or during a Reverse Roadshow, or as part of the follow-up. Smartkarma’s cloud-based platform enables access to over 450 insight providers covering in excess of 2,400 companies across 15 Asia Pacific markets.

CorpXSasia will now be able to offer their clients direct access to insight providers as part of the Reverse or Thematic Roadshow packages they arrange for overseas investors visiting Asia. Investors on the Smartkarma platform will now have direct access to all the packages on offer from CorpXSasia.