Index technology company BITA has secured €6 million in venture capital funding from ETFS Capital, the private equity group founded by ETF veteran Graham Tuckwell.
Indexing innovator BITA has raised €6m in venture capital funding from ETF ecosystem investor ETFS Capital.
The investment will allow the Frankfurt-headquartered fintech company to accelerate its technology rollout, add new functionalities to its indexing platform and expand its business activities further across Europe and North America.
The fundraise comes at a time when the passive investment ecosystem is undergoing a major transformation. As more money flows from active into passive management, product providers are increasingly seeking to differentiate their offerings while investors are demanding ever greater customization.
With large index providers dominating the benchmarking space but arguably lacking flexibility and speed, BITA believes there is a big gap to be filled by new players with the ability to integrate technology and index expertise to deliver client-centric solutions with less emphasis on proprietary index solutions.
BITA aims to occupy this gap through its technology-enabled indexing platform, which provides an end-to-end solution incorporating index design, back testing, customization, administration and governance through to calculation, thereby enabling clients of all shapes and sizes to create their own bespoke indices.
Commenting the new funding, Victor Hugo Gomez, CEO and Co-founder, BITA, said: “At BITA, we have set ourselves the ambitious mission of providing the “rails and roads” where investment customization will run. From indexing platforms and solutions, to portfolio customization APIs, our infrastructure will enable us, as well as our clients, to build innovative products which are better suited to the opportunities and challenges ahead. Our clients select us as their partner of choice because of our passionate commitment to their success. Thanks to ETFS Capital’s support we can now accelerate our growth and shake up the industry with our unique approach!”
Martyn James, Managing Director, ETFS Capital, added: “We are constantly asked about who can challenge the big index providers’ dominance. Our investment shows that we believe it is BITA, with their tech-first approach…Index expertise alone is not enough. What is needed for ‘scaled disruption’ is the provision of a comprehensive indexing technology solution, which has not been available to date.”
ETFS Capital came about following the sale of the European and North American asset management businesses of ETF Securities – an ETP issuer founded principally founded by Tuckwell – to WisdomTree, Legal & General Investment Management and Aberdeen Standard.