LiquidityBook, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based provider of buy- and sell-side trading solutions, has reported record results across all sales and client growth metrics the firm tracks for 2017.
The growth was fuelled by exceptionally strong demand globally for its industry-leading POEMS (portfolio, order and execution management system) platform, which provides considerable cost, management and functionality benefits versus the legacy platforms many investment managers currently employ.
Overall the firm’s global client base grew by nearly 25 per cent in 2017. This included 10 new client wins in the fourth quarter alone, half of which were multi-billion AUM funds. Much of the client growth was driven by demand from managers in the United Kingdom, where LiquidityBook opened a new London office to support the expansion in the region.
Ninety per cent of new revenue booked in 2017 was from clients who were replacing legacy platforms, and the majority of this new revenue came from USD5 billion-plus AUM funds. This resulted in a 63 per cent increase in the number of individual LiquidityBook users, and 30 per cent growth in volume routed via LiquidityBook’s proprietary FIX network, which is included as a value-added service for all LBX Buy-Side and LBX Sell-Side clients.
LiquidityBook expanded its product suite, announcing the formal launch of LBX Outsourced Trader, a fully SaaS-based POEMS developed specifically to meet the unique needs of an outsourced trading firm. The platform has seen rapid adoption by multiple large outsourced trading firms and is quickly becoming the leading platform in a growing segment of the market.
In October LiquidityBook announced the completion of its migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres globally to support its multi-tenant, SaaS-based platform. With the full move to AWS, the firm is able to rapidly scale to meet client demand as as necessary as well as support users in new geographies, including Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The migration project was led by Chief Architect Andy Carroll, who joined the firm earlier in the year from Twitter.
LiquidityBook also made several senior hires across its sales and client service teams. In May the firm hired Les Vital as Head of Technical Sales, and in June it added Nicholas Thompson as EMEA Client Services Manager.
Commenting on the record year, Chief Revenue Officer Sean Sullivan (pictured), says: “The last three years have each been record revenue years for our firm, but 2017 represented something more. In our view, it was the year that even the largest funds in the industry reached a tipping point in their opinions on SaaS-based trading platforms given the clear benefits they offer in comparison to traditionally deployed systems. Users have grown accustomed to web-based consumer apps and the advantages they provide, and they now rightfully expect that same user experience with their institutional applications. We believe there is a clear market tailwind behind our model and are looking forward to continuing to grow the business in 2018.”
