Citadel Securities, a major market maker, has received $1.15 billion in funding from Sequoia and Paradigm that took its valuation to approximately $22 billion, the company announced.
The minority investment round was led by Sequoia that saw proceeds from Sequoia Heritage, Sequoia Capital Global Equities and the Global Growth Fund. As a part of the deal, Sequoia Partner Alfred Lin will take a seat on the board of Citadel.
“Many companies that have transformed the world have achieved their highest ambitions with Sequoia as their partner,” said Peng Zhao, the Chief Executive Officer at Citadel Securities. “As technological innovation in financial markets becomes only more important, we see enormous opportunities to meet the needs of our clients across more markets and more products.”
“Our partnership with Sequoia and Paradigm puts us in an even stronger position as we continue to scale our business, broaden into new markets and attract the world’s most brilliant minds.”
Market Maker
Citadel is a big name in the trading industry as it offers liquidity for a broad range of equity and fixed income products. Its services are used by both retail and institutional investors.
The company has a presence in more than 50 countries and operates from 12 offices across North America, EMEA and APAC. According to the company’s figures, it has more than 1,600 institutional clients onboard that includes sovereign wealth funds and central banks.
“Citadel Securities’ commitment to solving for the needs of its clients through advanced analytics and technology has helped make markets more accessible for millions of people,” said the Sequoia Partner and new Citadel Securities Board Member, Lin.
Matt Huang, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Paradigm, added: “Citadel Securities has developed software and algorithms that have driven substantial improvement to market structures for the benefit of institutional and retail investors everywhere.”
