Capitolis, which makes technology for capital markets players such as investment and merchant banks, has closed on a $90 million Series C funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
The financing included participation from existing backers Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, S Capital, Spark Capital, SVB Capital, Citi, J.P. Morgan and State Street and brings Capitolis’ total funding to date to $170 million. SVB Capital and Spark Capital co-led a $40 million Series B for the company in November 2019.
Capitolis CEO and founder Gil Mandelzis said the company’s mission since its 2017 inception was to “fundamentally re-imagine how the capital markets operate.” The company’s network software is designed to help financial institutions — such as banks, asset managers and hedge funds — optimize their balance sheets.
Over 50 of the world’s largest institutions use the Capitolis platform, according to the company’s website.
The startup says it uses advanced workflow technology and proprietary algorithms to analyze and execute trades so that financial institutions can do things like eliminate, move and create positions. That results in freed up capital, open credit lines and access to capital from a bigger pool of sources, the company claims.
Alex Rampell, partner at a16z, said that his firm believes that what sets Capitolis apart from other financial services players “is the sheer scale of management’s ambition and the substantial talent, technology and capital milestones they have achieved.”
The New York-based company says it plans to use its new capital toward product development and to boost its customer support and sales staff. It also plans to increase its headcount from 90 today to over 150 by year’s end.
Stay tuned as I’ll be updating this story with additional details later today.