Apr 09, 2013
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ, April 9, 2013 – Edison Ventures proudly announces a significant growth capital financing in leading electronic trading platform provider, OptionsCity Software. Edison’s investment marks the first institutional capital in OptionsCity, and will give Edison a minority ownership stake. The investment will accelerate the Company’s sales and marketing efforts, product innovation and international expansion.
OptionsCity is the developer of award-winning electronic trading and market-marking platform, Metro, that has powered derivative trading since its launch in early 2008. The Company has continued to innovate with the development of its latest product Freeway, a multi-asset trading platform designed to offer developers and traders a comprehensive environment to create, test and deploy algorithmic trading strategies with micro-second execution.
Mike Cichowski, Principal, and Chris Sugden, Managing Partner, led the investment. Sugden commented that “OptionsCity is a proven innovator. We believe Freeway represents the next major development for options and futures trading. Traders demand a multi-asset capability where they can quickly test and deploy new strategies. OptionsCity’s customers repeatedly confirmed this capability”. Mike Cichowski noted, “OptionsCity is a profitable, fast growing company bringing innovative technology to the derivatives market. We are excited to partner with the management team and assist with the company’s global expansion”. Rob Finn, Vice President who led Edison’s diligence, noted “Hazem and team have built a compelling brand. The technology platform is well positioned for the fast-paced evolution of trading strategies”. Along with this investment, the OptionsCity Board of Directors will expand to include Mike Cichowski, along with Joe Wald, former CEO of EdgeTrade and Executive Vice President at Gain Capital.
We selected Edison as a partner – after thorough due diligence – based on their impressive track record of fastgrowing businesses as well as their commitment and knowledge of the Financial Technology sector,” remarked OptionsCity CEO Hazem Dawani. “We’re excited to begin a new chapter in the growth of our firm.”
OptionsCity is Edison’s initial investment in Chicago, the epicenter of options and derivatives trading, and 38th overall in Financial Technology (FinTech). The industry segment includes investments in trading technology, wealth management, specialty finance, financial tech-enabled services and consumer finance. Notable current and previous investments include Gain Capital (Nasdaq: GCAP), Liberty Tax (Nasdaq: TAX), TraderTools, EdgeTrade, Scivantage, Billtrust, FolioDynamix, Princeton Financial Systems, Business Financial Services, Neat, Redvision and Best Software.
About OptionsCity Software, Inc.
As developers of the award-winning Metro electronic trading and market-making platform, Chicago-based OptionsCity Software has helped options traders make markets and trade on the world's leading derivative markets since 2006. OptionsCity continues to innovate with the development of Freeway, a multi-asset trading platform designed to build, test, and deploy algorithms with micro-second execution. OptionsCity products are built on power, speed and reliability that traders require to have full control over trading, safety, and risk management. OptionsCity is a certified Independent Software Vendor on leading global derivative exchanges and markets. For more information, please visit www.optionscity.com.
