Capitolis Raises $220M for eSecLending Acquisition

Capitolis is financing a $200M acquisition with a capital package built by many of the institutions its platform is designed to serve. The New York-based capital-markets technology company completed $220M of financing on October 6, 2026, including a $120M Series E equity round at a $1.9B valuation and approximately $100M of debt.

Citi led the equity financing. Bank of America, Nomura, and Tradeweb Markets joined as new strategic investors, while Barclays, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, State Street, and UBS returned. First Citizens Innovation Banking, Hercules Capital, and Pinegrove Venture Partners are providing the debt. The structure gives Capitolis capital for its pending purchase of eSecLending while placing more of the financial system it serves directly around its cap table.

What Capitolis Announced

The $220M headline combines two different forms of capital. The equity portion is a $120M Series E, and the remaining financing is debt. That distinction matters because the package should not be described as a $220M venture round, and Capitolis has chosen leverage for a specific transaction rather than selling equity for the entire acquisition price.

The Series E values Capitolis at $1.9B, up from the $1.6B valuation attached to its 2022 Series D. The terms and investor rights were not disclosed, so the increase is a useful marker rather than clean proof of operating performance. Official round announcements indicate that Capitolis has now disclosed at least $456M in cumulative equity funding, separate from the new debt.

Why eSecLending Is the Center of the Story

Capitolis agreed on September 29 to acquire eSecLending for $200M in cash. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, regulatory approvals, and antitrust clearance. eSecLending (Europe) Limited is not included, although it is expected to continue providing services to the acquired business.

eSecLending brings 26 years of securities-lending operations and a network of pension funds, insurers, asset managers, banks, and prime brokers. For Capitolis, that network is as important as the product capability. The acquisition would add securities lending to a platform already focused on funding, portfolio optimization, capital use, and balance-sheet constraints.

Software businesses often raise capital to buy time for product development and distribution. Capitolis is using this package to buy an operating network with existing institutional relationships. If the transaction closes, the company will have to integrate technology, market expertise, and client trust in a corner of finance where operational mistakes travel quickly.

The Strategic Banks Behind the Round

The equity syndicate reads less like a conventional venture round than a map of global market infrastructure. Citi led the deal. Bank of America, Nomura, and Tradeweb joined existing bank investors that include Barclays, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, State Street, and UBS.

Those institutions are not passive observers of capital efficiency. They manage the financing, liquidity, counterparty, and regulatory pressures that Capitolis is built to address. Their participation can strengthen credibility and product feedback, but it also raises the standard: strategic investors eventually expect infrastructure to work inside real workflows, across real counterparties, under real controls.

Tradeweb's involvement adds another layer. Serene Murphy, Tradeweb's Global Head of Corporate Development, framed securities lending as a market ready for more electronification and automation. The investment links a trading-network operator to Capitolis' plan to combine eSecLending's asset-owner relationships with its financial-resource platform.

What Capitolis Already Does

Capitolis operates through Capital Marketplace and Portfolio Optimization. Its technology helps banks and other institutions reduce the cost of unoptimized positions, manage market and counterparty exposures, find financing capacity, and use balance sheets more efficiently across a network of participants.

The company reported record 2025 performance across FX, Rates, and Credit optimization. It said reductions in Rates Initial Margin and Capital increased 3.5 times after its Capitalab acquisition, while new products included Futures Porting, FX Initial Margin, and straight-through processing for Novation. Those figures are company-reported and do not substitute for audited revenue or profitability, which Capitolis has not disclosed.

The leadership bench reflects the next phase of that build. CEO and founder Gil Mandelzis previously founded Traiana and led EBS BrokerTec. CTO Murugan Manickam joined in September after 17 years at Bank of America and now leads global engineering along with the company's data and AI strategy.

A Capital Structure Built Around an Acquisition

Mandelzis told Calcalist that Capitolis deliberately balanced strategic equity with less expensive debt and expects the acquisition to contribute meaningful revenue. That is management's forward-looking case, not a completed result. The acquisition still has to close, and the combined business must convert complementary client networks into durable operating gains.

The financing does, however, show a clear allocation decision. Capitolis is not treating every dollar as interchangeable. Equity brings strategic institutions closer to the company, while debt limits dilution and helps fund a cash acquisition expected to add revenue, clients, and a new market capability.

What the $220M Changes

The transaction can move Capitolis from optimizing resources around bank portfolios toward connecting banks with a broader set of institutional asset owners. Securities lending sits directly inside that handoff. Asset owners have securities to lend, banks need inventory and financing, and both sides depend on reliable data, controls, counterparties, and execution.

Capitolis has spent years building trust around the idea that institutions can collaborate to reduce capital and funding friction. The eSecLending acquisition would make that collaboration more physical by adding an operating business and a mature client network. The banks financing the expansion will now be watching how well Capitolis turns that network into infrastructure they are willing to use at greater scale.