Capital Markets Gateway ("CMG"), a financial technology firm offering an integrated digital workflow and analytics platform for capital markets professionals, today announced the close of $7.5 million in Series A funding. StageDotO led the round, with additional participation from Franklin Templeton, Shea Ventures and CMG co-founder and CEO Greg Ingram.

The round brings CMG's total funding to date to $11 million.

"There is tremendous opportunity within capital markets to streamline processes that historically have been cumbersome and inefficient," said Mike Self, general partner at StageDotO. "CMG is filling an obvious gap in the market by deploying cutting-edge technology to provide the industry with unprecedented access to real-time data, analytics and communications functions that improve the speed and accuracy of decision-making."

CMG's co-founders - Greg Ingram, Mike Wilcox and Stamo Hadjiyski - are financial industry veterans who experienced firsthand the shortcomings of the current capital raising process. In response, they developed a workflow management and real-time data analytics solution for practitioners throughout the capital markets trading life cycle - including banks, asset managers and broker dealers - to improve transparency and connectivity between investors, issuers and underwriters.

Ben Batory, SVP, Head of Franklin Equity Group Trading at Franklin Templeton added: "CMG is a first-of-its-kind platform designed by a team of practitioners with decades of collective underwriting and investment banking experience. They understand the pain points of the capital raising process and have created a solution that eliminates inefficiency and improves collaboration. Our investment signals a very high level of confidence in the platform and the team driving it forward."

CMG has appointed former IHS Markit executive Michele Trogni as Chair of the Board and former Thomson Reuters Enterprise Division CTO David Kelly as Chief Technology Officer. Both Kelly and Trogni bring more than two decades of industry expertise to the firm.

Until 2017, Trogni served as Executive Vice President, Consolidated Markets and Solutions for IHS Markit, where she oversaw a portfolio of businesses that deliver data insights and technology solutions to support decision-making in engineering, technology, financial markets and beyond. Prior to joining Markit in 2013, she spent 25 years with UBS, the global wealth management and banking firm. Most recently, she served as the bank's group CIO and Head of Operations.

Kelly was Partner, CIO & Co-COO of Pine River Capital Management prior to joining CMG, where he oversaw the platforms responsible for all of Pine River's trading systems. Previously, David was the Chief Technology Officer of the Enterprise Division at Thomson Reuters beginning in 2010. From 2001 to 2010, David worked at SAC Capital Advisors, L.P. where he ultimately served as a managing director and Chief Technology Officer responsible for technology strategy, including infrastructure and development functions.

"We are passionate about fostering more open and collaborative capital markets, and we're growing our talented team by hiring the best and brightest minds who share our vision for a more productive financial ecosystem," said Greg Ingram, co-founder and CEO of CMG. "This investment will enable us to scale our technology and accelerate new product initiatives to bring improved communication and connectivity to even more financial practitioners."

Over the last two decades, the U.S. equity capital markets have averaged more than 800 offerings, raising approximately $200 billion annually. With dozens of underwriters, thousands of investors and an expanding universe of issuers, ineffective tools like email and telephone are still used to facilitate execution, making raising capital a time-consuming and costly process for every constituent involved.

More than 80 leading asset managers, with over $10 trillion in assets under management rely on CMG's platform to streamline their transactions. The company has also assembled a Client Advisory Board (CAB) of industry leaders to ensure the platform is best meeting the needs of financial professionals.

CMG has offices in Chicago, New York and Seattle. The company is adding new hires across its engineering, product development and sales teams with a focus on broadening the platform's functionality and driving continued client success.

About Capital Markets Gateway Inc.

Capital Markets Gateway Inc. (CMG) is a financial technology firm offering an integrated digital workflow and analytics platform for capital markets professionals. With more than 100 years of collective industry experience, CMG's team understands firsthand the shortcomings of the current capital raising processes and has designed a system built for practitioners, by practitioners. More than 80 leading asset managers, with over $10 trillion in assets under management rely on CMG's platform to streamline their workflows. The firm, founded in 2015, has offices in Chicago, New York and Seattle. For more information, please visit www.cmgx.io.