We’re excited to share the news that Spectrum Equity-backed Quantile has been acquired by London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG). It’s a major milestone, especially for a company that is just seven years-old, and we’re thrilled for co-founders Andrew Williams and Stephen O’Connor, and the entire team at Quantile, as they begin this new chapter.
As part of Spectrum’s established fintech franchise, which also includes World-Check (acquired by Thomson Reuters), ethoca (acquired by Mastercard), and seisint (acquired by Lexis Nexis), Quantile is the third portfolio company to be acquired by a global exchange leader in recent years. Nasdaq acquired Spectrum Equity-backed Verafin, an industry pioneer in anti-financial crime management solutions, in 2020. In 2017, CBOE acquired Spectrum Equity-backed Bats Global Markets. As exchanges increasingly look to diversify their businesses, advance their regulatory technology leadership, and make the financial system safe, we think this will be an important trend in fintech M&A going forward.
Quantile’s acquisition also provides further validation of our original investment thesis and approach to partnering with fintech companies operating in the risk, regulatory, and compliance space. For example, when we partnered with Quantile in January 2021, the company exhibited many characteristics that we often seek in new investments, including strong regulatory tailwinds, experienced co-founders, a compelling network-driven business model, and a significant customer ROI.
With so many banks, hedge funds, and other financial institutions relying on Quantile to help them efficiently satisfy regulatory requirements, through reduction of risk and margin obligations associated with derivatives portfolios, we expect Quantile to be a valuable part of LSEG’s post-trade risk solutions division and wish them the very best.