- Sector: Computers / Peripherals
- CEO: Hugh Hughes
- Website: www.fixnetix.com
- Year founded: 2006
- Country: London, UK
- Five-year revenue growth: 24,557%
- CAGR: 396%
London-based Fixnetix provides outsourced solutions for low latency technologies that enable global banks, hedge funds and other financial market participants to trade using some of the fastest and most robust systems available. The company was co-founded in 2006 by CEO Hugh Hughes, Paul Ellis, and Alasdair Moore, who after a lifetime in the financial services industry saw the opportunity to help traders better manage their systems.
"When a system breaks down in a dealing room you've got 350 traders screaming and shouting at the same time. Typically, they then have to make about 15 different phone calls just to find out where along the line the problem is," explains Hughes. "What we saw was the opportunity to tie all of that together in one service contract, and provide the best and lowest cost system available."
Fixnetix analyses every aspect of the technology chain, employing some of the latest industry know-how to implement the top solution to a client's needs. It offers products and services in partnership with data centres and telecommunications companies, while also developing targeted in-house technology. Most recently, this has included the launch of a new chip capable of processing thousands of trades in just 740 nanoseconds.
Hughes attributes their success to their ability to understand the needs of financial services companies. "Our real talent is the people who work here. They come from banks, hedge funds and market makers, so they really know the business," he says. "We never come in and preach to clients – we just partner with them, and look at where they need help."
An important driver of Fixnetix's business is the growing complexity and globalisation of the financial services industry, coupled with emerging regulatory pressures. These have resulted in a need for more efficient trading technology that also meets more stringent reporting and risk management requirements. "Some years ago you might have had just one bank line running from London to Paris and another from Paris to Frankfurt," says Hughes. "If you look at today's network infrastructures; they're enormous and highly complex to maintain."
With almost 90 clients worldwide, Fixnetix has continued to expand its operations across Europe and, more recently, the US market. Next year, the company has set itself ambitious new targets for growth in Asia.