Index creators MerQube has announced USD22 million raised in Series B funding, in an investment round led by Intel Capital with participation from new investor Allianz Life Ventures, and existing investors Citi, J.P. Morgan, Laurion Capital Management and UBS. In conjunction with the financing, David R. Mueller, Intel Capital Investment Director, will join MerQube’s board of directors.
The firm writes that the “index-linked investments” market, valued at USD17 trillion today, is evolving rapidly with assets expected to reach USD30 trillion by 2027. This growth continues to accelerate demand for customisation, flexibility, scale and speed to market, driving the transformation of traditional passive investing and raising the need for state-of-the-art technology and computational capabilities, the firm says.
MerQube’s cloud native SaaS platform and API-first solutions are designed and built to address and unlock this unmet demand, the firm writes, adding that its data ingestion framework and building block approach creates the unique computational agility required to process extensive amounts of data from a vast array of sources, and deliver cost-effective, rapidly implemented solutions.
“We are thrilled to welcome Intel Capital and Allianz Life Ventures as investors”, says Vinit Srivastava, CEO at MerQube. “The support of a leading technology V.C. firm such as Intel Capital will be instrumental as we deliver on our vision to close the fintech gap in passive investing by providing the best technology available to enable innovative rules-based investment solutions. The participation of a powerhouse such as Allianz Life Ventures will provide strategic direction in the insurance market as we continue to expand to meet the needs of a diverse client base.”
“The surging market demand for sophisticated tailored indices can be effectively delivered by a cloud-based and API-centric architecture,” says Sunil Kurkure, Managing Director at Intel Capital. “We believe the next wave of innovation in rules-based investing will be driven by customization at scale to meet diverse investor requirements and drive cost efficiency. MerQube’s technology puts it in a unique position to deliver the solutions this trend will require. Intel Capital is delighted to collaborate with MerQube on this next phase of their journey.”
In May 2023, MerQube received FCA authorisation under Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) and in September 2022, it confirmed its adherence to International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for Financial Benchmarks. MerQube’s other recent accomplishments have included assuming calculation and administration services for the UBS CMCI index family, a family of 1,100+ of UBS’s most innovative commodity indices. MerQube is also the benchmark provider for most of the defined outcome ETFs issued in the USA.
MerQube plans to utilise the funds raised to further expand its engineering capabilities and platform infrastructure, scale its talent, and continue to expand into its key markets.
In January, 2020, Vinit Srivastava, co-founder of MerQube, was interviewed for an ETF Express ETF Innovators’ piece: MerQube: Challenging the status quo
