Fintech platform United Fintech acquires Cobalt, a provider of risk and data services to the FX and digital asset markets.
It is United Fintech’s fifth acquisition since launching in 2020 and has boosted its team to 150 across New York, London and Singapore. The purchase is in addition to the acquisitions of FairXchange, TTMZero, Athena Systems and NetDania.
Founded in 2015, Cobalt provides core shared ledger infrastructure for banks in foreign exchange trading and digital assets. The company’s platform leverages blockchain-derived concepts to create a single, shared view of every transaction and remove the need for reconciliation across silos and multiple systems.
It boasts customers including Deutsche Bank, Citi Bank, Barclays, BNP, Natwest, ABN Amro and Standard Chartered Bank. Several banks including Citi and Standard Chartered were early investors in Cobalt.
United Fintech will onboard Cobalt, its clients and employees onto its platform while Cobalt will continue to operate as a standalone company under United Fintech. United Fintech CEO and founder Christian Frahm becomes chairman of Cobalt while Cobalt’s co-founder and chief product officer Andrew Coyne and CEO Darren Coote will continue to lead the business.
‘Welcome to the family’
Frahm at United Fintech said: “It is incredibly exciting to welcome some of the financial industry’s accomplished leaders to the United Fintech family. Cobalt is at the forefront of critical institutional trade infrastructure for foreign exchange and digital assets, leading the field in innovation that empowers banks to keep pace with the ever-evolving capital markets.
“Foreign Exchange is a core part of a bank’s infrastructure today. In the future I’m convinced digital assets will become a key asset class in the sophisticated money management space, while financial institutions and banks will need a high level of expertise and know-how to thrive in the coming digital banking era. Cobalt’s technology is a great addition to the United Fintech global range of products and services and I look forward to the new phase of our growth journey together.”
Cobalt’s Coyne said he was very happy to join the United Fintech family.
“They will help us accelerate shared infrastructure adoption for the benefit of all market participants,” he said. “This will allow our clients to access markets more efficiently, with better control and lower cost.”
Royal Park Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to United Fintech as well as its shareholders throughout the transaction.
