Symphony Raises $63 Million From BNP Paribas, Others

By Justin Baer 

Symphony Communication Services LLC, the instant-messaging software company, said it raised $63 million in additional funding from France's BNP Paribas SA as well as its existing investors.

Founded in 2014 and backed by Wall Street heavyweights Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and BlackRock Inc., Symphony is seeking to supplant Bloomberg LP's chat service as the primary way traders, portfolio managers, salespeople and risk managers communicate with one another. The company has about 200,000 licensed users across the financial-services industry, said David Gurle, Symphony's chief executive.

Some 40% of its users work for investment-management firms, Mr. Gurle said. BNP Paribas, the French bank, will be Symphony's 11th investor, he said.

The latest funding will be used to speed up the company's growth in financial hubs around the world. It adds to the $170 million Symphony has already drawn from banks, money managers, venture capitalists and Alphabet's Google Inc. The new funding round values the startup at more than $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in October that had begun discussions with investors over the new funding round.

Write to Justin Baer at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2017 09:08 ET (13:08 GMT)

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