JPMorgan-backed InvestCloud buys London fintech Babel for $20 million

A London software company that helps process trades for wealth managers and stockbrokers has been snapped up by Californian fintech InvestCloud for $20 million (£16.4 million).

Babel Systems, founded in 2008, helps with middle and back office processing of equities, bonds, and funds, and works with the likes of robo-advisor Nutmeg. The company's founders and angel investors have spent around £6 million developing its product.

Los Angeles-headquartered InvestCloud, founded in 2010, builds software for finance companies to help their interactions with clients online. JPMorgan is one of over 600 customers and the investment bank took and undisclosed stake in the business last September. It has raised over $100 million (£41.1 million) since 2010.

John Wise, chairman and CEO of InvestCloud, says in a release announcing the deal: "InvestCloud needed an extremely high-volume and low-cost trading and accounting solution designed for the cloud. Babel is the answer.

"Babel is designed for the international market and is the most modern platform in the world designed for Robo and Wealth; however, it's also versatile and can be applied to all major financial markets."

Babel was set up by serial fintech entrepreneur Steve Wise who set up his first company, Synergo Technology, in 1987 and designed the Tarot system, which is used by many major stockbroking companies in the UK.

Wise says in an emailed statement announcing the sale: "Babel's next step was to target the US market; this deal greatly accelerates that initiative. InvestCloud's digital solutions are world class and perfectly positioned to capitalize on our API approach, as proven by their selection by JPMorgan Chase."

Babel, which employs 50 people in London, will continue to keep a presence in the UK while also expanding to the US.