Pico signed a definitive agreement to acquire Corvil, a provider of real-time analytics and machine intelligence products for financial markets infrastructure performance and operations.

“With Pico as a premiere technology service provider to the capital markets, our clients have benefited from access to a wide range of top trading technologies within the Pico environment,” said Jarrod Yuster, Founder and CEO of Pico. “Corvil’s reputation is second to none for innovation, quality, and data analytics in the financial markets, and we have come to rely on their data to support mission-critical systems. Our motivation for acquiring Corvil is based on a commitment to our clients to deliver the industry’s best-in-class analytics and real-time insights. With Corvil, we can deliver full transparency into our clients’ trading and IT operations while addressing the challenges that come with rapid expansion into new global markets. I am thrilled to welcome the Corvil team to Pico.”

The acquisition brings together a complementary fit of talent and technical capabilities around the globe. Servicing a combined client base of over 400 leading banks, exchanges, asset managers, financial technology vendors and trading firms operating across five continents, the company will have a workforce of over 375 staff with deep expertise in low-latency technologies, automation, machine learning and data science, along with extensive domain knowledge for operating and delivering high-performance financial infrastructure on a global footprint.

“We see a new era of financial technology for the capital markets emerging. This will be defined by an on-demand and machine intelligent technology paradigm delivered as a service for infrastructure, platform, cloud, data and analytics,” said Donal Byrne, CEO of Corvil. “In the fast-paced global financial markets, you need to make your move on the markets before the markets move on you. With Pico, we are making a transformational move on the $50 billion financial technology services market.” In the combined company, Byrne will take up the position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO), reporting to Yuster, with global responsibility for product, marketing and data science.

The company will operate under the Pico brand while the Corvil name will continue to be used for its portfolio of products and services. Clients will be able to procure all currently available Corvil products as well as newly introduced Corvil-as-a-Service solutions available within Pico’s global network and infrastructure footprint. Corvil-as-a-Service is a unique service and product combination that will harness Pico’s in-house expertise to deploy, configure, and operate Corvil environments. This will greatly simplify clients’ on-boarding, reduce or eliminate up-front training and resourcing requirements, and provide cost efficiencies that may have previously been barriers to adoption.

Pico is a privately held company with a consortium of investors holding a minority ownership position, many of which are also clients, including Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, UBS and Wells Fargo.

"As an investor in Pico since inception, we have been fortunate to witness their tremendous growth over the past 10 years to become a leading provider of global infrastructure services, connectivity, cloud technology and data services for capital markets. The acquisition of Corvil accelerates Pico's strategy to integrate advanced analytics-as-a-service into their global platform and positions the combined company for continued long-term growth,” said Ashwin Gupta, MD, Principal Strategic Investments, Goldman Sachs.

“We recognized the promise in Pico’s best-in-class infrastructure services early on, and have invested multiple times over the years,” said Jason Sippel, Global Head of Equities, J.P. Morgan. “The strategic rationale for a combination with Corvil’s undisputed leadership in analytics services is persuasive, and we expect it will provide the combined entity with a profound advantage in serving its customers. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Pico, both as an investor and strategic partner.”

“As capital markets businesses continue to search for new ways to leverage financial technology in a more cost-effective and rapid response manner, Pico is addressing these needs with solutions that resonate with a range of market participants,” said Todd Lopez, Head of Americas Cash Equities, UBS, both an investor in Pico and a client.

C. Thomas Richardson, Head of Market Structure and Electronic Trading Services at Wells Fargo Corporate & Investment Banking commented: “As a long-time investor in and client of Pico, we are excited to support Pico’s bold vision with this transformational acquisition of Corvil that combines Pico’s top-notch trading infrastructure with Corvil’s high-end analytical tools. We believe that this combination will enhance Pico’s compelling value proposition which, in turn, will help us service our customers better.”

The acquisition is expected to close within 30 days, subject to customary closing conditions. Financial details are not being disclosed.