Equity capital marketplace Appital has secured an additional £1.7 million investment from Frontline Ventures and angel investors.
It takes the company’s total investment to date to £4.85m and comes ahead of the launch of the world’s first algorithmic bookbuilding platform, in partnership with Turquoise, a pan-European firm majority owned by London Stock Exchange Group.
The company aims to give institutional investors full transparency and maximum control over the bookbuilding and deal distribution process, and allow them to actively drive liquidity in the marketplace.
More than 30 asset managers, collectively managing more than $30 trillion, have joined or are in the process of joining Appital.
In addition, Appital is proactively engaging with additional global, regional and specialist asset managers to increase the depth of available opportunities and liquidity within the platform.
“We are very happy to extend our funding to Appital ahead of its launch,” said Shay Garvey, founding partner at Frontline Ventures.
“Appital has a proven track record in securing partnerships with major EMS providers, executing brokers and a trading venue to address the lack of efficiency and control over existing bookbuilding and deal distribution processes.
“Their traction with global asset management firms is clear evidence of the need for their innovative solution for equity markets. We are delighted to back Appital’s vision.”
Mark Badyra, CEO of Appital, said: “This is a very exciting time for our business. In the run-up to our launch we have forged partnerships and built technology infrastructure to support a new buyside workflow, giving firms control over their bookbuilding processes and bringing a highly manual activity into an automated, algorithmically driven platform.”