Simon Dawson/REUTERS; Samantha Lee/Business Insider
Gerald Starr, Cloud9 Technologies CEO and cofounder, said the makeup of traditional trading floors will change.
- Cloud9 Technologies CEO and cofounder, Gerald Starr, said the novel coronavirus is the catalyst that will change Wall Street firms' trading floors forever.
- Cloud9 is a cloud-based voice communications platform that can replace trading turrets, hardware traders use to instantly connect with colleagues, brokers, and clients.
- Business has been booming for Starr, who said Cloud9 has onboarded 28 new clients and seen more than a 30% uptick in business in the last five weeks.
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The CEO and cofounder of a fintech helping Wall Street firms adjust to their new work-from-home environment said the coronavirus is serving as a catalyst to change the future of how trading floors operate.
Gerald Starr's company, Cloud9 Technologies, is a cloud-based voice communications platform that allows traders to work remotely without the need for a physical trading turret. Business has been booming for Starr, who told Business Insider the company has grown by over 30% in the past five weeks.
"Where most people are sitting on the sidelines dealing with really difficult times, I'm almost embarrassed to say that we've been flat out working seven days a week, 24 hours a day type of stuff," Starr said. "Hopefully with what we do we will help the economy stay afloat and traders trading."
While many roles on Wall Street are easily transferred to a work-from-home environment, trading has proved to be a bit more tricky for firms. A key hang up for many traders has been not having trading turrets, hardware that allows traders to quickly connect with colleagues, brokers, and customers.
Cloud9 operates essentially as a cloud-based trading turret that can be accessed via users' computers. The company, which was founded in 2014, has previously caught the attention of big-name firms. In July 2018, Barclays led and JPMorgan participated in Cloud9's $14 million Series B.
However, current circumstances have led to an explosion in the company's business unlike anything Starr and his team have ever seen.
Starr said he's onboarded 28 new firms onto his platform over the last five weeks. It hasn't just been new clients, as existing customers have broadened access to Cloud9 for more of traders.
All in all, Starr estimated the amount of business he's done in just over a month amounts to what typically would have taken place over the course of a year.
And while some might view Cloud9 as a band-aid to a bad situation, Starr said these changes are likely to be sticky. In the same way the 1993 World Trade Center bombing forced financial firms to consider disaster recovery plans, the novel coronavirus has made firms consider how to enable people to trade from home for the first time.
"Connecting everybody in the firm from wherever they are, whether they're on the trading floor or not, through voice and then integrating that voice onto the other platforms that they're using has always been a theme-driving business," said Brian Hunt, Cloud9 Technologies' chief administrative officer.
"I think this is a new time and I think that a technology that allows you to work from different places in the secure, efficient manner is gonna win the day," Starr added.
Even if Wall Street firms do eventually return to the norm of having traders report to physical offices, Starr said firms' experiences working remotely means they're less likely to push for traditional trading floors.
"I think that the makeup of the trading floors will change a bit. I just don't think you're going to see everybody all in one location," he said. "I don't think you're going to have the big clusters. I think you will see more people having the ability to work from different areas other than their trading position in the floor."
