Eventus Systems to double staff in 2020

Trade surveillance firm Eventus Systems has said it aims to double its number of staff by the end of 2020, having raised $10.5 million (£8m) in growth capital.

Speaking to Global Investor, chief executive of Eventus Travis Schwab, said: “We currently employ 15 people but by the end of the year want to increase that to 30-35.”

He added: “With the additional resources, we want to grow our customer base by hiring talented people. We are already being aggressive with recruitment, having added two hires in Chicago and will look to add staff in London, Hong Kong and Singapore.”

The Austin-based Eventus raised the funds in a series A investment round from a group of investors led by Jump Capital and LiveOak Venture Partners.

Schwab added: “The funding will enable us to expand the marketplaces and asset classes we cover on behalf of our clients, as well as grow our footprint in key regions. Given that we already have a strong presence in North America and have dipped a toe in Asia with a half dozen clients there, EMEA will be a keen focus for us.”

Schwab expanded on how the investment will help the firm establish itself in Europe, stating: “We can already help clients satisfy the requirements of Mifid II, so we believe with the investment of resources, we’re in a really strong position in Europe.”

One of the investors who contributed towards the $10.5 million total, was the investment arm of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

With Eventus already providing services to Coinbase and other cryptocurrency exchanges, Schwab said: “There are unique opportunities and challenges that come with the digital asset market. One engineering challenge we had to solve was providing surveillance to exchanges that run 24/7.”

There have also been developments in the wider market surveillance industry in recent months. Earlier in February the Singapore Exchange enhanced its surveillance of securities through the application of artificial intelligence.

In November 2019 the mobile surveillance firm VoxSmart acquired the trading business of market surveillance business Fonetic.