Pull to refresh
Logo
What Changed
Following Why Sign Up
LO:TECH raises $12M to build trading for markets that never close

LO:TECH raises $12M to build trading for markets that never close

Money Moves

London high-frequency trading firm led by MMC bets on tokenised stocks and bonds as crypto speculation cools

Today: LO:TECH raises $12M Series A

Overview

Updated 49 minutes ago

For most of a century, trading desks opened at 8am and closed at 4:30pm. LO:TECH built its systems for markets that never close, and on November 2 investors gave the London firm $12 million to expand that bet. MMC led the round, with Faction, 13 Books Capital and Atka participating.

The timing matters. Crypto market capitalisation fell about 50% in the year to June 2026, while tokenised real-world assets on public blockchains nearly doubled to $38 billion. LO:TECH is betting the next wave of trading is tokenised stocks and bonds, not speculation.

Why it matters

If tokenised stocks and bonds become standard, the firms that execute those trades will sit where Wall Street's biggest market makers sit today.

Questions about this story

Free account needed to ask — your question is kept and asked for you right after sign-up. Answers are public.

No questions yet — be the first to ask.

Key Indicators

$12M
Series A round
Led by MMC, with Faction, 13 Books Capital and Atka participating.
$17M
Total raised
Includes an earlier seed round before the Series A.
50+
Institutional clients
Across designated market making, market data and execution services.
$38B
Tokenised real-world assets
Value on public blockchains, up from about $20.6 billion a year earlier.
$3.2B
Tokenised equities
Grew from about $960 million in March 2026 to $3.2 billion by late September.
~50%
Crypto market cap decline
Fall in total crypto market capitalisation in the year to June 2026.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

Sign up to generate historical perspectives on this story.

Log in Sign Up

People Involved

TM
Tim Meggs
Chief Executive and Co-Founder, LO:TECH
Leading the firm's US and Asia-Pacific expansion
MH
Marcus Horsley
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, LO:TECH
Overseeing the firm's high-frequency trading infrastructure
AW
Alex Williams
Co-Founder, LO:TECH
Co-founder of the London trading firm
OR
Ollie Richards
Partner, MMC
Led the Series A investment in LO:TECH

Organizations Involved

LO
LO:TECH
Capital markets and high-frequency trading firm
Raised $12M Series A; expanding to the US and Asia-Pacific

A London trading firm that runs market making, market data and execution on one high-frequency trading system built for traditional, digital and prediction markets.
Munson Medical Center
Munson Medical Center
Hospital
Led LO:TECH's $12M Series A

A venture capital firm that has backed blockchain-based financial infrastructure for several years.
13 Books Capital
13 Books Capital
Venture capital firm
Existing investor; participated in the Series A

An early LO:TECH backer that published a detailed investment case in August 2025.
FA
Faction
Venture capital firm
Existing investor; participated in the Series A

An existing LO:TECH investor that joined the Series A round.
Atka
Atka
Investment firm
New investor in the Series A

A new investor that joined LO:TECH's Series A alongside existing backers.
RW
RWA.xyz
Market data provider
Source for tokenised real-world asset figures

Tracks the value of tokenised real-world assets on public blockchains.

Timeline

August 2024 November 2026

6 events Latest: Today
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. LO:TECH raises $12M Series A

    Today Funding

    MMC leads the round; LO:TECH launches cross-venue execution services and plans New York and Singapore expansion.

  2. Tokenised equities reach $3.2B

    Market

    Tokenised equities on public blockchains grow from about $960 million in March.

  3. Crypto market cap halves

    Market

    Bitcoin falls about $62,000 peak to trough; total crypto market value drops roughly 50%.

  4. ICE and OKX announce tokenised equities venture

    Partnership

    The NYSE owner and crypto exchange plan to give OKX customers access to tokenised NYSE equities.

  5. 13 Books Capital publishes investment case

    Investment

    The investor cites 20 signed clients and a pending virtual asset service provider licence application.

  6. LO:TECH exits stealth

    Launch

    The London firm begins offering market-making and market-data products for crypto venues.

Scenarios

1

LO:TECH wins a US licence and opens a New York desk

Possible Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: LO:TECH executives and MMC partner Ollie Richards, who said the round funds US expansion

LO:TECH said it is exploring licences in the US. A licensed American entity would let it serve US institutions directly instead of routing them through offshore arrangements. The trigger is a licence application or approval, followed by a New York office.

2

Tokenised equities retreat and the cross-venue bet loses its second leg

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Skeptics of tokenised real-world assets who watched the 2026 crypto drawdown

If tokenised equity volumes stay thin, LO:TECH's execution business has less to route. The firm would keep growing crypto market making and data but defer its US and Asia-Pacific buildout. The signal is the value of tokenised equities on public blockchains.

3

A major exchange buys LO:TECH

Unlikely Resolves by Q2 2028

Discussed by: Market structure analysts who watched Virtu acquire KCG and ICE build Bakkt

Exchanges and brokers want onchain execution but lack the plumbing. Buying a firm with more than 50 institutional clients and a working high-frequency stack is faster than building one. The trigger would be a strategic buyer announcing a deal.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1990s–2000s

Electronification of US equities (1990s–2000s)

Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange moved from floor trading to electronic matching. Decimalization in 2001 narrowed tick sizes and cut the minimum price increment from fractions to pennies. New firms built fast systems to quote stocks.

Then

Spreads collapsed and floor brokers lost ground to screen-based traders.

Now

Citadel Securities, Virtu and other electronic market makers became the dominant intermediaries in US stocks.

Why this matters now

LO:TECH is running the same playbook in tokenised and onchain markets: build the fastest infrastructure, then sell execution to institutions.

December 2017

CME launches bitcoin futures (2017)

CME Group listed cash-settled bitcoin futures, giving regulated institutions a way to trade crypto without holding the asset. The exchange had watched crypto volumes grow on unregulated venues for years.

Then

Volumes were modest at first, and critics said Wall Street had arrived late.

Now

Futures became a standard hedging tool and helped pull crypto into regulated portfolios.

Why this matters now

It shows how a traditional venue can legitimise a new asset class. LO:TECH is trying to build the same bridge from the digital-asset side.

April 2017

Virtu Financial acquires KCG (2017)

High-frequency trader Virtu bought rival KCG Holdings, consolidating two of the largest electronic market makers. Virtu had gone public in 2015 and used the deal to expand its scale.

Then

The deal closed within months and combined the two firms' trading desks.

Now

Virtu became one of the largest market makers globally, and the deal became a template for consolidation in electronic trading.

Why this matters now

It is a plausible exit path for LO:TECH and a reminder that infrastructure firms in trading tend to scale by buying rivals.

Sources

(7)
+1
LO:TECH Finextra 13 Books Capital Startuply.vc Cryptonomist CoinLive LO:TECH