London and Manchester have good news to share with startups Appital and RiskSmart bagging tech funding.
Equity capital marketplace Appital has got a £1.7 million investment from Frontline Ventures and various angel investors.
RiskSmart, a risk management platform, has launched to the UK market having secured over £1 million investment from NPIF Maven Equity Finance and other institutional investors.
Appital Shows Poise with Turquoise
London-based Appital says the investment follows last year’s £2.5 million round. The latest round comes ahead of the firm launching its algorithmic bookbuilding platform in partnership with Turquoise, a pan-European MTF, majority owned by London Stock Exchange Group.
Appital’s platform is targeted at the buyside community to originate and participate in liquidity discovery, price formation and execution opportunities. The firm was founded in 2018 and is looking for action amongst institutional investors.
The funding follows its integration with EMS providers FactSet, FlexTrade and TS Imagine, and executing brokers Bernstein and Instinet, in anticipation of Appital’s imminent launch. Through the partnership with Turquoise, buyside firms will be able to execute all deals through the Turquoise MTF, via a single point of access and with straight-through processing (STP) to over 20 settlement venues.
According to the company, over 30 asset managers, collectively managing more than $30 trillion (£24.8 trillion), have joined or are in the process of joining Appital.
RiskSmart Starts
Over in Manchester, RiskSmart has put its thinking cap on and is targeting the SME crowd.
The startup was founded by Ryan Swann and Michael Aldred. Swann worked at Think Money Group in various legal roles, while Aldred is still listed on LinkedIn as the CEO of thinkmoney, part of the Think Money Group.
Utilising data and AI technology, RiskSmart offers automated risk management services.
There are no details about how it will happen, but RiskSmart has “ambitious plans for significant growth by the end of 2024 and to secure Gartner recognition within the same time frame”.
Based on its website testimonials, the company already has some clients. The names are Lumio, Freedom Finance, Debt Movement, Comparitec and Summize.
