The 2016 Fintech Finance 35: Steve Gibson

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< Fintech’s Most Powerful Dealmakers of 2016

23. Steve Gibson
Chief Executive Officer
Euclid Opportunities
PNR

ICAP’s transition into a technology-driven trading and posttrade services enterprise began long before the interdealer brokerage’s agreement late last year — now nearing completion — to transfer its traditional voice brokering to Tullett Prebon. In 2003 and 2006, London-based ICAP acquired the e-trading platforms that make up what is now EBS BrokerTec. In 2011, as part of the ramp-up of the posttrade risk and information (PTRI) division, the firm launched a strategic fintech fund, Euclid Opportunities. The financial crisis had spawned “a raft of new regulations requiring new operating models,” recalls Euclid founder and CEO Steve Gibson. “The markets needed new platforms, talent, and management teams to solve new problems of efficiency, scale, capital, and resources.” Gibson, 44, is a member of ICAP’s global executive management group and reports to Jenny Knott, CEO of PTRI since August 2015. (Mark Beeston, No. 24 last year, headed PTRI from 2010 to 2014 before starting Illuminate Financial Management, an investment firm that has retained advisory relationships with some Euclid portfolio companies.) Euclid began building its portfolio with Duco, a provider of advanced algorithms that automate historically manual reconciliation processes, and has gone on to touch other bases in data management and transaction processing. Holdings range from AcadiaSoft in collateral management to telephony and collaboration innovator Cloud9 and distributed ledger leader Digital Asset Holdings. Euclid has had two exits, ICAP the buyer in both cases: hedge fund and prime brokerage platform ENSO Financial Analytics in April, and regulatory reporting company Abide Financial in October. Also in October, Euclid increased its funding of derivatives-risk analytics provider OpenGamma in a $16 million round, along with Accel and former SunGard Data Systems CEO and current OpenGamma director Cristóbal Conde. “A lot has been written about a tougher climate for fintech start-ups,” says Gibson, who previously held senior positions with Calypso Technology, Ipreo, and Siebel Systems (now part of Oracle Corp.). “But there will always be a small number of good firms that continue to get funded.”

The 2016 Fintech Finance 35