InvestCloud acquires Babel Systems for $20m
John Wise, chairman and CEO of InvestCloud
California-based InvestCloud has acquired Babel Systems in London for $20 million.
Babel provides a modular and API-based trade and accounting platform, while InvestCloud has over 660 clients with “accounting needs served by legacy accounting systems that were designed in the last century”.
This acquisition links InvestCloud’s digital platform with Babel’s capabilities. InvestCloud will also continue to support clients using other accounting solutions and will serve as an open supplier to the market.
John Wise, chairman and CEO of InvestCloud, says it needed a solution designed for the cloud and Babel is “the answer”.
He adds that the acquisition will “mark the completion of integrating the full Robo solution stack and will also be used to provide a true cloud alternative to solutions from incumbents like FIS Sungard and SS&C Advent”.
Last year, JP Morgan Chase and InvestCloud partnered to develop digital capabilities for individual investors at both the JP Morgan and Chase franchises. JP Morgan also made an equity investment in InvestCloud, but didn’t reveal the figures. This investment is just one part of JP Morgan’s three-year $300 million digital strategy to improve in asset management.
Babel’s client base includes online investment management service Nutmeg. In November 2016, Nutmeg went live on Babel Systems’ back-office system to “support growth in trading volumes”. Babel says it was “fully implemented and integrated” in six months.
