Jan 29, 2018   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Duco Announces $28M Growth Investment for Data Engineering in the Cloud

Duco, the data engineering technology company, today announced the completion of a $28m investment round by Insight Venture Partners, NEX Opportunities and Eight Roads Ventures. The round also includes an investment by lifetime entrepreneur and former CEO of SunGard, Cristóbal Conde.

Duco provides technology that enables banks, brokers, asset managers and exchanges to normalise, validate and reconcile any type of data in Duco’s cloud, providing firms with on-demand data integrity and insight. The company has seen rapid and global growth as the industry re-platforms, adopting advances in leading technology to eliminate operational risk and cost and making actionable data more immediately available across the enterprise. Duco will use the investment to expand its global footprint, with headcount growth in Europe and the US, the launch of an Asia office and an expansion of its award-winning product set.

Christian Nentwich, CEO of Duco, said, “Duco’s approach to solving complex data problems in financial services is to empower experts with self-service solutions. We have gained considerable traction as the industry looks for intelligent answers to evolving new market realities. Our clients have engaged us globally at a strategic level and are relying on our proven ability to deliver at scale. This investment enables us to push further in applying our natural background in Computer Science to solving fundamental industry problems, while strengthening our resources to deepen relationships with our existing client base.”

Peter Sobiloff, Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners, said, “Insight Venture Partners tracks many companies, but few stand out. Duco is one of the few. The company has already demonstrated tremendous growth, and we are looking forward to scaling that growth to the next level. We are impressed by the management team’s ability to deliver tangible impact in a challenging and complex business-to-business environment while amassing an impressive global client list with high customer satisfaction levels and retention rates. Insight is looking forward to working with the Duco team.”

Michael Spencer, CEO of NEX, said, “The evolution of the post-trade environment in financial services requires fundamental changes in market structure, processes and technology. In areas such as data, a deeper and more technical level of innovation has been required and this is exactly where Duco are the industry’s pioneers. NEX has supported the firm from its conception and we are thrilled, but not surprised, to see its substantial progress.”

Cristobal Conde said, “I am delighted to be deepening my relationship with Duco at this important inflection point for the company. Reconciliation in financial services, and particularly in banks and large asset managers, is an area that requires a shake-up and re-engineering in the coming years. Duco is focused on bringing technological advancements to market in an industry that is ripe for disruption. The company is taking significant market share and will emerge as a household name in the coming years.”

About Duco

Duco provides self-service data engineering in the cloud. We empower users to normalize, validate and reconcile any type of data on demand. New clients are live in 24 hours, with results in 7 days and tangible business value in 30 days. Our customers include international banks, brokers, exchanges, asset managers, hedge funds, administrators, service providers and corporates. Headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Luxembourg, Duco serves clients throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. For more information go to https://du.co

About Insight Venture Partners

Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $18 billion and invested in over 300 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. Across our people and our portfolio, we encourage a culture around a core belief: growth equals opportunity. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

About NEX Opportunities

A NEX business, NEX Opportunities helps companies challenge convention and accelerate growth. We invest in financial technology companies that are transforming markets. We partner with pioneers who are bringing new technologies, sciences, business models and talent to capital markets technology. Investments include: Abide Financial, AcadiaSoft, ENSO Financial, Duco, OpenGamma, Axoni, Digital Asset Holdings, OpenFin and Cloud 9. For more information, go to www.euclidopportunities.com.

About Eight Roads

Eight Roads Ventures is a global venture capital firm with more than 40 investments in the FinTech space. Together with associated funds it manages $3.6Bn of capital across offices in the UK, India, Japan, China and the US. Eight Roads has a near 50-year history of investing, that includes partnerships with companies such as Alibaba, Ant Financial, Appsflyer, China PnR, Compte Nickel, Curam, Future Advisor, Kensho, InnoGames, iPipeline, Letgo, Made.com, Neo4j, Nuance, Ping Identity, Prosper, Recurly, Wuxi Pharmatech, Xoom.

About Cristóbal Conde

Cristóbal is the former President and CEO of SunGard. He spent 24 years at the firm, growing SunGard into a Fortune 500 Company and the largest privately held software and services company in the world, employing over 26,000 staff. Prior to President and CEO, Cristóbal held various senior roles at Sungard including Executive Vice President and COO.