The Venture Codex

Participated · Series C · Sep 2014

IEX is a stock exchange. The company was reported to have received an investment from crypto firm FTX. The size of FTX’s investment was not revealed, though an FTX spokesperson said it will become a “significant” shareholder in IEX. The reported purpose of the stake is to help strengthen crypto markets. The article did not report any operating metrics (revenue or users) or other financial details. No additional investors or terms were disclosed in the coverage. IEX is an equity trading venue that builds a fair-access marketplace for institutional investors, using a proprietary anti-colocation architecture and simplified pricing and rule set. The platform was seeded by a consortium of buy-side investors, including mutual funds, hedge funds, and family offices, and is designed to prioritize investor protection. IEX operates a fair-access platform for any qualified broker-dealer and emphasizes fairness for traditional investors and issuer companies. The company has seen rapid growth: since Q1 2014 it has tripled daily trading volume and recently exceeded 100 million shares per day in participant volume. IEX plans to use new financing to pursue registration as a U.S. national exchange and to explore other opportunities to leverage its brand and market position. IEX was featured in Michael Lewis's book Flash Boys.