Fintech
LoopFX gets funding from Augmentum Fintech
Classified: The position, The flow | tags: Augmentum Fintech, capital, financing, FX, LoopFX, P2P
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: June 26, 2024
With full FX view
FX dark pool matching platform LoopFX has secured further funding as it develops its business, drawing on £2.6 million from the UK’s only publicly traded investment firm specializing in fintech, Augmentum Fintech.
LoopFX launched in late 2022 as a venue generating huge interest, both among buy-side firms and major dealers – the peer-to-peer-to-bank model – and has since linked to Portware and FX Connect .
Augmentum founder and CEO Tim Levene will join LoopFX’s board of directors, chaired by John Sievwright and comprised of experienced financial services entrepreneurs Martin Gilbert, Michael Soutar and Ivan Ritossa.
The full FX view
In the grand scheme of things, just over £2.5m won’t make a splash in the FX industry, but attracting external investment is an important step for LoopFX as it not only provides capital for expansion but also provides a public statement of support to the business model.
There are many platforms in the FX industry, some barely surviving, others thriving, but it’s a crowded space and that means any challenger needs to have a slightly different approach to the business and be able to exploit a relatively narrow window of opportunity.
I’ve written before about that window of opportunity and suggested that Loop is in that period where it attracts interest and goodwill – both necessary to grow into a business – and funding and an expression of support helps extend that window. The company is able to add organs if necessary, but, perhaps more importantly, it can sit in front of potential partners – and collaboration with other suppliers/platforms is an integral part of the model – with the knowledge that the people around the table they know. has support.
Too many great ideas in our industry drain time and money, publicly projecting that is not the case for a particular business is critical both to its success and, more importantly, to having the time to succeed. There are still skeptics about the peer-to-peer model in FX – I remain in that camp – but while there are skeptics about the dark pool model, I don’t sit there, nor, it seems, on Augmentum Fintech.
Investments are nothing without the right business model and the right customer pipeline, but equally too many ideas are nothing without investments – this should ensure LoopFX maintains the momentum. It remains to be seen whether Loop will be able to take the FX industry with it, but one thing is certain: it will be given every opportunity.
“Augmentum’s expertise and network will be strategically vital to LoopFX as we approach launch,” says Blair Hawthorne, founder and CEO of LoopFX. “Their investment will allow us to build our team and accelerate our ability to meet our customers’ needs. As our first institutional investor, Augmentum will join the ranks of other world-class collaborators, including our first partner State Street FX Connect, as well as FactSet Portware.”
Levene, adds: “We are increasingly focusing on opportunities in the capital markets space, where we see a trend of incumbents choosing to partner and partner with innovative early-stage companies. We believe LoopFX offers a textbook example of a fintech operating in the capital markets in partnership with blue chip financial institutions. LoopFX brings efficiency in trading and price discovery to the FX market, which in turn will help participants comply with MiFID II’s best execution trading regime.