Ullink

Ullink, founded in 2001 by Laurent Useldinger, emerged as a global force in trading technology from its headquarters in Paris, France. Useldinger, with a background as a sales engineer at GL Trade and a sales executive at Prudential Securities, identified a market need for greater compatibility among systems routing financial market orders. This insight, coupled with his entrepreneurial spirit, led to the creation of Ullink, which he grew organically to a $50 million revenue company before securing a majority stake investment from HgCapital in early 2014.

The company specialized in providing multi-asset trading technology and infrastructure for both buy-side and sell-side market participants. Its business model centered on offering mission-critical electronic trading and connectivity solutions, generating revenue through its software and services. Ullink catered to a prestigious client base, including top-tier global financial institutions, banks, and brokers, enabling them to construct customized trading environments. The firm offered a comprehensive suite of products such as the UL BRIDGE for connectivity and order routing, the UL FIX engine, and the UL SMART order execution engine. Its services covered direct market access (DMA), order management, best execution, algorithmic trading, and pre-trade risk management across all asset classes. A key offering was the UL Net global routing network, which later expanded significantly.

A pivotal moment in Ullink's history was the 2014 acquisition of NYFIX and Metabit from the New York Stock Exchange. This strategic move expanded its product offerings and created one of the industry's largest FIX-based trading communities, granting Ullink deeper access to the buy-side and pan-Asian markets. The acquisition transformed Ullink into a company with over $125 million in revenue. In March 2018, Ullink merged with Itiviti, a leading trading and connectivity technology provider, in a deal backed by Nordic Capital. This combination created a full-service provider for the capital markets industry with revenues over $200 million and 1,000 employees. The journey concluded when Broadridge Financial Solutions acquired the combined Itiviti-Ullink entity in May 2021 for approximately $2.5 billion, integrating its front-office capabilities into Broadridge's extensive back-office infrastructure.

Keywords: Ullink, Laurent Useldinger, trading technology, connectivity solutions, financial technology, sell-side, buy-side, NYFIX, Itiviti, Broadridge, FIX protocol, order management system, OMS, direct market access, DMA, algorithmic trading, electronic trading, capital markets, order routing, pre-trade risk management, multi-asset trading, UL BRIDGE, financial software, low-touch trading, high-touch trading, managed connectivity, execution management system, middle office solutions