Sagard NewGen Acquires Stake in Horizon Software

Sagard NewGen has acquired a majority stake in Horizon Software, alongside a management buy-out, to support expansion into new markets and strategic capabilities. 

Sagard NewGen will take over Capza’s majority stake, demonstrating their commitment to Horizon’s development on a global scale.

Bérangère Barbe

Bérangère Barbe and Agnès Huyghues Despointes, Partners at Sagard NewGen, said:We are delighted to have been chosen by Sylvain Thieullent to support Horizon Software and its remarkable management team in this new development phase. Under the leadership of its CEO, the company has successfully launched its Managed & Hosted service offering and has leveraged its expertise in algorithmic trading to conquer new international markets and develop its Agency Trading business.”

“We are convinced of Horizon Software’s strong potential. The team will be able to leverage the resources of the Sagard network to accelerate the company’s growth,” they said. 

Across the past two years with Capza, Horizon has successfully developed a single cross asset platform for market making, agency trading and algo trading, alongside with portable and scalable trading services around pricing, trading, risk, and market connectivity.  

With this new investment, Horizon will focus on expanding its Trading-as-a-Service offering – bringing together agency trading and market making on one platform – scaling up the asset classes that are covered to meet increased client demand for digital assets.

Horizon will also better serve clients through innovation and implementation of new trading services, such as DMA and DSA order routing, enhancing its capabilities to handle high-volume order flows from clients to the market.  

Further, this will allow the firm to grow its current hubs in Europe, the Middle East and Asia and expand into new geographies.

Horizon will benefit directly from the Sagard footprint already established in North America, accelerating client growth in the region, on top of opening offices in Singapore and Dubai to offer bespoke services on the ground.

This demonstrates Horizon’s strategic approach to supporting local clients in global key markets and continuing to develop its managed services offering.  

Sylvain Thieullent, CEO of Horizon, said: “Funding from Sagard NewGen represents the next step in our growth strategy to drive innovation in the trading technology industry. The investment ensures we are well placed to continue to support the trading of digital asset classes on top of what we currently offer across our cross-asset and algo platform. We look forward to building on our existing client base, as well as expanding our reach geographically.”