Stock trading giant Citadel Securities announced Tuesday that it has raised $1.15 billion in a funding round backed by Sequoia Capital and crypto VC firm Paradigm.
This is Citadel Securities’ first-ever external funding round. Sequoia invested in the company through its three funds — Sequoia Heritage, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, and the Global Growth Fund.
As part of the deal, Alfred Lin, partner at Sequoia Capital, will also join Citadel Securities’ board of directors.
Citadel Securities is a global market-making leader, handling nearly 30% of all trading in the U.S., including equities, derivatives, bonds, and other assets. One of its biggest clients is Robinhood.
With fresh capital in hand, Citadel Securities plans to continue expanding globally. The company could also go public, although it doesn’t have immediate listing plans, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
“Our partnership with Sequoia and Paradigm puts us in an even stronger position as we continue to scale our business, broaden into new markets and attract the world’s most brilliant minds,” said Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao.
“As technological innovation in financial markets becomes only more important, we see enormous opportunities to meet the needs of our clients across more markets and more products,” Zhao added.
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