Accel leads $18m round for Calastone

Amy King
11 September 2013

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Accel Partners has led an $18m funding round for Calastone, a UK-based fund transaction network.

Existing backer Octopus Investments also participated in the round.

The fresh capital will be used to expand Calastone's product offering and drive the firm's global growth, with particular attention given to Asia Pacific and Europe.

Previous funding
Octopus committed £2m to Calastone in 2010. The capital was drawn from the Titan VCTs.

In June this year, Octopus launched its first institutional investors fund, which saw four portfolio companies including Calastone sold by Titan VCTs 1-3 to the new vehicle. As part of the transaction, the VCTs retained 50% of the original investment through ownership of a stake in the new fund.

Company
Founded in 2007 and based in London, Calastone is a cross-border transaction network for the global funds industry. By removing the technical barriers to the automation of fund transactions, the firm claims to reduce transaction costs by more than 60%.

Users are able to transact electronically, regardless of size or location. Parties involved in the production, distribution or management of funds are able to connect quickly and communicate using any message format. The connection process does not require any new technology.

The firm has more than 450 clients and 4,200 network connections. In the last 12 months, Calastone has carried order value of more than $280bn. Message volume has doubled year-on-year.

People
Sonali De Rycker is a partner at Accel. She joins the Calastone board as part of the transaction. Alex Macpherson is head of the venture team at Octopus.