Upstream Technologies LLC, a leading provider of investment management technology to asset managers, announced it has received an additional investment from its strategic investor, Lava Trading Inc. Lava was the lead investor in Upstream's Series A round in April 2003 and is increasing its equity position.
Upstream provides asset managers with Upstream IMS, an investment management system that integrates and automates the investment manager's workflow. Upstream IMS embeds a firm's unique investment insights across multiple investment products and instruments including equities, fixed income and international securities, ETFs, and cash and accommodates Multi-style Portfolios ("MSPs" or accounts with two or more asset categories). As a result, an investment manager can easily review his portfolios and generate orders that consistently and accurately reflect the firm's investment style and information, and automatically generate portfolio reports and audit trails. Upstream's current customers use Upstream IMS for separately managed accounts, institutional portfolios, and mutual funds.
Since its first funding round, Upstream has continued to grow its client base, most recently announcing the licensing of Upstream IMS to Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investment services.
"We are very pleased to provide additional financing to Upstream," said Richard Korhammer, Chairman and CEO, Lava Trading Inc. "Upstream has grown to be a leading provider of financial services technology. The company has proven to be an ideal strategic fit for Lava, and as it continues to grow its slate of prestigious clients, our investment decision is further validated."
Lava is a leading developer of high-performance trading solutions for the financial services industry. As a cost effective and neutral provider, its OTC and Listed solutions are used by leading broker/dealers, including most of the top 20 U.S. investment banks, market makers, hedge funds and institutional investors.
"Since Lava's first investment in Upstream, our two firms have worked closely together," said Upstream CEO Mark Hoffman. "Currently, Lava hosts Upstream's ASP service in its state-of-the-art data centers, and later this year we will be rolling out joint offerings for the asset management marketplace."
"Lava is an ideal corporate partner," said Upstream Chairman Evan Schulman. "We are pleased that it is taking a larger position in Upstream and believe that this, along with our recent customer wins, is further validation that Upstream is heading in the right direction."