Primary Portal, a digital platform that aggregates and digitises equity capital market processes for banks and asset managers, has completed the first stage of its €8.9 million Series A funding round led by the venture capital arm of Deutsche Börse Group, DB1 Ventures. The round also saw further investment from existing shareholders Dutch Founders Fund (DFF) and Flow Traders.
Drawing on over 20 years of experience in equity capital markets, founders John Bentinck and Ilan Leshem are transforming archaic and inefficient workflows in equity capital markets, which are still largely analogue, labour-intensive and error-prone.
With over 90 banks and 400 institutional investors using the platform, Primary Portal is rapidly digitising the equity issuance space by creating the infrastructure that makes capital markets systems interoperable.
“We are delighted to welcome Deutsche Börse as a shareholder and are very excited to work together with them in further enhancing connectivity and digitisation for capital markets,” said Bentinck. “Their investment is a strong endorsement of our collaborative approach to bringing digital solutions to market participants.”
With the new investment, the company will expand its offering, particularly by connecting asset managers’ order management systems with banks, enabling straight-through processing in capital markets transactions for the first time.
Additionally, Primary Portal will advance its analytical data solutions, providing powerful data and analytical tools to banks and asset managers. “The demand for AI-driven analytics products is immense. Adding next generation analytics on the back of real time, golden-source data is merely the beginning,” said Leshem.
“At Deutsche Börse, we believe in innovative solutions to shape capital markets and are committed to strengthening the ecosystem. By digitising communication and workflows, Primary Portal paves the way for efficient connectivity between asset managers and banks in equity issuances, improving the process for companies to raise capital. Our partnership and commitment underscore our confidence in Primary Portal, its hard-working team and the European equity market,” added Stefan Maassen, Head of Capital Markets & Corporates at Deutsche Börse.
Primary Portal expects further investors to join the round in a second close in the second half of the year.
