Eventus Systems Inc. loves being in Austin, but its team is spread out globally. It's been that way from the start in 2015, making the pandemic-driven shift to remote work almost a non-factor as it has grown its team and boosted its revenue.
The local startup, which develops financial risk applications for capital markets, has about 20 of its 55 employees in Austin. Now, bolstered by a $30 million in series B funding announced on Sept. 8, Eventus Systems CEO Travis Schwab says he plans to roughly double the company's headcount over the next year.
"We hire globally and love locally," Schwab said.
Like nearly any tech business that relies on high-level engineering, finding the right talent is no easy task. But Schwab said Eventus' global approach gives it additional flexibility to find the right people.
"We've been on Slack since 2015. We've been on Zoom that long," he said. "So for us, this way of working is very natural, and actually part of our DNA and part of our culture. So I don't see us changing our stripes as we continue to rapidly expand."
Eventus Systems' software monitors a variety of asset types, including equities, futures and crypto exchanges. It helps brokers and sellers ensure compliance with regulations in the U.S. and around the globe, and it has found a foothold with large enterprises, such as ENGIE Energy Marketing NA, Inc., as well as smaller trading firms.
Schwab said the company has 60-plus clients, and the company plans to finish the year with $13M to $15M annual recurring revenue, with plans to double that again next year.
"It gets harder as you get bigger, but that's why you bring in a bunch of talented folks," he said.
The new funding will help.
The series B round was led by Centana Growth Partners, a firm with a focus on fintech that has offices in Palo Alto and New York. Also investing in the round were DRW VC, a branch of trading firm DRW; CMT Digital, a Chicago-based crypto trading firm; and earlier investors Jump Capital, based in Chicago, and Austin's LiveOak Venture Partners.
Eventus has now raised a total of $48.5 million in venture funding.
As part of the deal, Centana Partner Ben Cukier has joined the Eventus' board of directors.
The investment and growth comes as crypto trading continues to boom. That is creating two large lanes of opportunity for the company – one for traditional financial trading and another for the evolving network of crypto and currency traders.
"We think it's very important to actually have our feet in both sides," he said. "We're gonna see really great growth on the crypto side, because as that space gets larger the regulators sharpen their focus that much more. And then they turn to products like ours."
Meanwhile, regulation for traditional finance continues to change. And treasury bonds are becoming an even bigger opportunity than equities, along with FX currency trading.
"We're really excited that the addressable market is growing," Schwab said. "Since the history of markets ... they never get less regulated. They just don't, because regulated markets are safer, which attracts more investors."
Schwab said there aren't many global enterprise trade surveillance companies out there, but he said Nasdaq and a French company called NICE Ltd. have competitive products, along with niche players that focus on specific markets.
Eventus Systems spun out of Austin trading firm RGM Advisors, LLC in 2015. Since then, Schwab said Austin's fintech scene has changed dramatically.
"I think what's interesting about Austin is it's really becoming an interesting hub for trading firms," he said. "...Now you have really a who's who of proprietary trading firms here in Austin, and it's creating quite a unique ecosystem."
A prior version of this story listed the company's revenue from last year, not this year. It has been updated.
