Deutsche Börse has made a $10 million minority investment in electronic bond trading network Trumid.
Trumid, headquartered in New York, offers an electronic credit-trading platform, which enables buy-side and sell-side market participants to transact directly and anonymously with one another. The company, which is backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel and investor George Soros, allows market participants to collectively determine pricing and to execute the transaction at the market-vetted price. Approximately $1 billion in bonds were crossed over the platform in June.
Deutsche Börse's investment comes on top of Trumid's previously disclosed $28 million financing from earlier this year. The two companies says they will work together to develop products and services for the European market.
Hauke Stars, Deutsche Börse executive board member and head of cash markets, says: “Trumid has already proven its ability to create a new transparent, electronic and efficient credit and bond market place in the U.S. With our investment we will gain new insight into this rapidly evolving market; and therefore we will find further ways to collaborate."
Deutsche Börse’s investment will be managed by its corporate venture capital arm DB1 Ventures, which has set itself a target of making between three and five investments over the course of this year.
The German exchange operator set up DB1 Ventures last year to institutionalise and professionalise its approach to investing in firms that can boost its technology and revenue footprint. It has already taken stakes in distributed ledger outfit Digital Asset Holdings; API specialist figo; a joint venture with the Naga Group to create a marketplace for trading virtual gaming items; and an investment in the first German growth fund for fast-expanding B2B-software companies, Digital Growth Fund I.