Adaptive acquires ex-LMAX CTO’s Real Logic to enhance bespoke trading systems
Martin Thompson, founder of Real Logic and now Head of Platform at Adaptive, was the Chief Technology Officer of LMAX before going his own way.
Adaptive, a specialist global electronic trading consultancy, has acquired Real Logic, a low-latency trading technology development firm.
The move will allow Adaptive to bring together market-leading capital markets technology solutions – Aeron and Aeron Cluster – and onboard the fintech firm’s development team and founder.
Real Logic’s open-source software underpins Adaptive’s development platform, Hydra Platform, in-house – enhancing its ability to deliver bespoke trading systems for clients.
Bespoke trading systems across asset classes
Adaptive builds and operates bespoke trading systems across asset classes for financial services firms wanting to own their technology to differentiate and compete in the long-term.
Real Logic delivers front office solutions for financial services firms in capital markets, developing low-latency trading systems using Aeron – their open-source messaging system focused on trading systems, and Aeron Cluster, a technology that provides fault-tolerance through consensus.
The acquisition follows a long-standing relationship between the two firms and will expand Adaptive’s capabilities in delivering clients bespoke technologically intense, low-latency, highly available trading systems that can manage significant throughput.
Martin Thompson, founder of Real Logic and now Head of Platform at Adaptive, was the Chief Technology Officer of LMAX before going his own way.
Todd Montgomery, who also moves to Adaptive as Engineering Fellow, was previously CTO of 29West where he designed a leading low-latency messaging solution widely used in capital markets.
Matt Barrett, co-founder and CEO at Adaptive, said: “As the technological arms race in financial services intensifies, our acquisition of Real Logic is a natural next step in Adaptive’s growth as we celebrate our ten-year anniversary – bringing an exceptional business with which we have worked closely and its technology in-house.
“Not only does the acquisition bring world class development teams and low-latency trading experts under the same roof, it gives us the scale and capabilities to become a one-stop shop to deliver full stack trading solutions to the most sophisticated capital markets firms. The open source nature of Aeron and Aeron Cluster will be core to our strategy going forward, and we intend to drive broad adoption of the technology across the industry. We welcome Martin, Todd and the team, and are deeply excited for Adaptive’s next chapter.”
Martin Thompson, co-founder of Real Logic, commented: “Trading technology is at an inflection point. As institutions and trading firms change their approach to technology, Adaptive offers the expertise and scale to service this significant growing demand. We and the Real Logic team are excited to join our long-term collaborators to jointly shape the future of capital markets technology.”
Todd Montgomery, Engineering Fellow at Adaptive, added: “Capital markets firms are increasingly realising that technology is not a cost centre, but a revenue generator. Combining forces with Adaptive will allow us to serve these firms, as firms move away from off the shelf technology, which is no longer enough to differentiate, and transition to taking front-office innovation into their own hands.”
