Cosaic is spinning off its desktop interoperability platform, Finsemble, following the sale of its Chart IQ to S&P Global, as a new company. The firm will be under the leadership of its original founders, Dan Schleifer and Terry Thorsen, and Schleifer is bullish on its prospects.
“We’ve seen explosive growth across the last two years and I think, as much of a buzzword as desktop interoperability has become, it’s really still young and just taking off,” he says. “FDC3 2.0 being ratified as a standard was a big moment for interoperability. But more important is the buy side, sell side and vendors actually implementing and adopting it. So, I think you’re going to see huge uptake on the buy side, and perhaps tier two and tier three firms that haven’t had tier one [technology] budgets.”
Finsemble allows clients to connect applications which are compatible with FDC3, the interoperability standard, to create workflows between technologies such as their order/execution management system (OEMS), market data workstation, blotters, customer relationship management (CRM) and analytics apps. These can potentially improve efficiency, reduce error rates, and allow end-users to focus on higher-value tasks. It claims to have allowed clients to save ten minutes per trade through a more efficient workflow, and to have reduced request for quote (RFQ) response times by 33%.
Since its launch in 2017, the firm has become one of the most well-known desktop interoperability and workflow solution providers in the space, alongside Glue 42 and OpenFin. It counts Citi, Charles River Development, Pictet Asset Management and Lind Capital as clients.
There is stiff competition and the renewed focus should help the management team handle that, Schleifer says.
“We’ll continue building our intellectual property portfolio and I’m excited to be able to do that, with 100% of my time, but the core strategy at Finsemble hasn’t changed,” he explains. “It is a very hotly contested space, which is reflective of the big opportunities and demand for interoperability, plus frankly, how much value people are already getting from it. Our calling card has always been speed to deploy, with a low code/no code approach to interoperability so a firm can deploy to a single desk or across the front office without ever touching a line of code. We still have a full set of API’s for developers that want to extend further, but you don’t need developers to get the value out. The main reason that people choose Finsemble, is that they can get value very, very quickly.”
The company is retaining Schleifer as CEO and adding chief operating officer (COO) Joerg Ruetschi to the executive team as president. Investors include Citi North America, Illuminate Financial Management, Digital+ Partners, AFG Partners, and the two founders.
“We’re invested in the success of Finsemble as a standalone company,” says Ron Savino, managing partner at AFG. “Finsemble is poised to continue or exceed its trajectory of triple digit revenue growth, along with continuing to influence interoperability initiatives across the finance industry. It’s an exciting opportunity for us to invest in a company that is at the forefront of the future of work for financial services professionals across the globe.”
Finsemble reports its client base has doubled in the past year, with 100% increase in buy-side clients and a tripling of sell-sides and vendors. The sale of Chart IQ should have no impact upon its use by Finsemble clients, according to Schleifer, beyond the need to have a separate contract for its use.
“Chart IQ is fully FDC3 compatible, and remains the gold standard for institutional clients; will continue to be the go-to visualisation component for insights,” he says.
©Markets Media Europe, 2023
