Edgewater Markets Raises $30m from FTV Capital for FX Business

The financial services and Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term focused private equity firm, FTV Capital, which has raised over $1.8 billion through high growth investments since 1998 and across 91 portfolio companies, has just invested $30 million as part of a minority stake position in foreign exchange services provider Edgewater Markets headquartered in New York City.

Edgewater Markets provides foreign exchange aggregation and distribution to global institutional clients and is also registered with the National Futures Associaton (NFA) as an introducing broker (IB), and acts as a non-bank FX Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term provider, and offers ECN platforms for spot FX and metals. The firm has additional offices in Singapore, Los Angeles, Mexico City, London, and Chicago. The $30 million round by FTV Capital will help the company expand its footprint globally, increase sales efforts and build out its technology platform, according to an official company press release.

As part of the minority investment, FTV Capital's Brad Bernstein, a partner at the firm and head of FTV Capital's New York office, will join the Edgewater Markets board. He commented regarding the industry: "As the foreign exchange market rapidly evolves, Edgewater is adapting and delivering the highest level of liquidity, full fill execution, speed and anonymity to the world's leading FX clientele. We are highly impressed with the Edgewater team and their ability to effectively execute in this massive $5 trillion market."

Mr. Bernstein concluded regarding legacy platforms: "FX platforms at many banks are outdated and more expensive, driving FX clients to seek innovative technology solutions like Edgewater for access to global FX liquidity pools, achieving better pricing and more efficient execution."

Edgewater Markets CEO and co-founder Skovran Schreder commented in the press release: "Edgewater's mission is to consistently exceed the expectations of the most demanding institutional clients in one of the financial sector's largest and most sophisticated markets. As we enter the next phase of expansion, we chose to partner with the FTV Capital team for its track record of building category leaders in financial services. We are confident that FTV's deep domain expertise and extensive strategic network will contribute to Edgewater's continued success,"

The company's other co-founder Alex Scarsini, who is also Edgewater Markets President, added: "Edgewater's global footprint helps to ensure total access to FX markets throughout the world and provides its 250 plus clients -- including hedge funds, institutional FX traders, brokers, banks, electronic communication networks (ECNs) and high frequency traders (HFTs) -- with highly tailored, accurate and low cost FX electronic execution."

"As Edgewater clients told us repeatedly, liquidity is essential in today's volatile market," said Kyle Griswold, partner at FTV Capital, and who will also have a board observer position as part of the new investment."

"Edgewater Markets provides traders with a customized, flexible technology platform that easily integrates to front and back-office systems. This seamless integration ensures anonymity along with optimal, efficient and low cost FX electronic execution," he added.