Fidessa

In the mid-1980s, the financial world was on the cusp of a technological revolution. In 1981, several former Logica employees, including founder Michael Whitaker, started a company called Intercom Data Systems, which would later be rebranded as royalblue. They initially focused on building bespoke software for a variety of clients. However, they soon identified a significant opportunity in the London Stock Exchange's 'Big Bang' deregulation of 1986. This event created a massive need for automated trading systems. Seizing this moment, the company developed a product that would become its flagship: Fidessa. It provided robust, reliable, and high-performance trading, market data, and connectivity solutions. Essentially, it became the plumbing for the world's trading floors, a mission-critical system for broker-dealers and investment managers. Fidessa was the engine that allowed financial institutions to execute trades and manage their order flow efficiently in the new electronic era. The company's focus and technical expertise paid off. It went public on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, providing the capital to expand its product suite and global reach. For years, Fidessa operated as a successful public company, a quiet giant in the fintech space. The story took a major turn in 2018 when it became the subject of a bidding war. Initially, Swiss banking software firm Temenos made an offer, but was ultimately outbid by the financial technology company ION Investment Group, which acquired Fidessa for £1.5 billion.