Bond Platform Trumid’s Value Jumps 40% in DST-Led Funding Round

(Bloomberg) -- Bond-trading platform Trumid Financial saw its valuation increase by 40% in just four months after a new fundraising round led by Yuri Milner’s DST Global.

That takes the company’s implied worth to around $1.4 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the private transaction. Growth equity firm Dragoneer Investment Group, which led Trumid’s last capital raise in August, also participated in the $50 million round in December, according to a statement Wednesday.

The six-year-old company led by President Mike Sobel has been expanding as the corporate bond market continues to embrace electronic trading and advances in financial technology. The trend has also benefited rivals MarketAxess Holdings Inc. and Tradeweb Markets Inc. Trumid launched emerging market debt trading in October, adding to a suite of investment-grade and high-yield securities.

The platform has made a name for itself with its attributed trading protocol, in which each counterparty of a transaction is disclosed. It announced a strategic relationship with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. related to the workflow last week, joining Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Plc on its trading advisory committee.

Trumid recently hired Vlad Khandros as its head of corporate development, according to the statement. Khandros previously served as global head of market structure and liquidity strategy at UBS Group AG.

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