Inter-dealer broker TP ICAP has taken a minority stake in ipushpull as the real-time data sharing and workflow platform said demand for automating chat and its integration into workflows is reaching a tipping point.

On 25 April ipushpull said it received investment from TP ICAP in a Series A funding. Dan Wray, group chief information officer at TP ICAP Group told Markets Media that the broker has an established working relationship with ipushpull, which has a huge opportunity to grow. TP ICAP has been using ipushpull’s services since 2018 as part of its Fusion technology offering.

Exciting news! We are thrilled to announce that ipushpull as closed a Series A funding, led by investment from TP ICAP. We are grateful to have TP ICAP as our partner on our journey as we scale and grow the business. For more information, go to:https://t.co/SIJvSMTrtn

— ipushpull (@ipushpull) April 25, 2023

Wray explained that ipushpull is fully integrated in Fusion which includes aggregation of liquidity across the group’s brands and asset classes; connectivity and a post-trade module to automate settlements. TP ICAP has been using ipushpull to provide seamless connectivity to clients in the format that they individually prefer.

“The core of why we use ipushpull is that it allows full integration into the workflows of our traders’ and clients’ to make their trading as easy and seamless as possible, and give them the right access to the right data at the right time,” Wray added. “The advent of integration into chat is the area where we see the most interest, so the timing was right for the investment.”

As part of the investment Wray will join ipushpull’s board of directors. Matthew Cheung, chief executive of ipushpull, told Markets Media that last November’s launch of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot developed by OpenAI, has accelerated demand for automatically integrating chat into workflows.

“Chat GPT has suddenly caused a hurricane in every facet of life, but particularly in financial markets,” Cheung added. “Chat is at the forefront of what people are looking at.”

According to Cheung, ipushpull is a best-in-class leader in automation around chat as the firm has been building chatbots for about five years. “TP ICAP embraced it fully in the last couple of years and are seeing some real value,” he said.

ipushpull allows customised connectivity to approximately 20 chat solutions, including Symphony, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, as well as and bespoke client API and Excel-based integrations through just one central point. Cheung said the integration includes some end-to-end bot workflows which allows personnel to focus on more high-value tasks.

Cheung said: “Our sweet spot is that we can provide that functionality to companies who are embracing this omni-channel approach. We definitely see chat as driving future revenue growth.”

Investment

Wray continued that the investment will allow the two firms to work even more closely together and develop a joined up technology roadmap in line with client demand, which allows faster time to market. TP ICAP plans to extend the use of ipushpull to hundreds of clients across multiple asset classes this year.

TP ICAP is ipushpull’s first institutional investment according to Cheung and the funds will be used  to hire staff, enhance connectivity and accelerate delivery of its live data sharing and workflow automation capacity.

“We are seeing significant demand not only from TP ICAP, but from all our customers across the financial markets,” Cheung added. “Demand is from anyone using data, who needs to share data with their clients and deliver that data in the application that clients prefer.”

Cheung continued that, as well as helping to share data, ipushpull helps integrate the workflow triggered by that data. Firms can collect data in real time and then automate processes, to both save costs and grow revenue by improving the client experience.

“With TP ICAP we are creating data-driven workflows with Fusion acting as a connectivity layer,” he said.

Wray agreed that automation is key. He added: “We have been able to roll out automated workflows to clients and the feedback is positive.”

Expansion

TP ICAP sees a lot of further use cases for ipushpull across its businesses, particularly as the adoption of chat increases across asset classes in over-the-counter markets. Wray said TP ICAP does not just want to expand the current use of ipushpull, but is also developing new ways in which it can be used.

“As more markets become electronic and adopt technology there will be more access to more data,” Wray added. “I can only see that trend increasing and there is still plenty of upside.”

Cheung also highlighted that much OTC data disappears into the ether, especially pre-trade data and around the negotiation of prices. In contrast, there is a huge amount of exchange-traded market data, which is heavily licensed and generates revenue.

“That is not the case with OTC data so there is a massive market,” added Cheung. “As OTC markets become more electronic, the amount of data will increase and they will become more connected.”