Bookbuilding platform Appital has appointed Matthew Jefford as head of liquidity solutions.
As part of the role, Jefford will help accelerate Appital’s growth strategy, with a focus on deepening platform liquidity for asset managers alongside aiding the firm with bringing innovation and automation to equity markets.
Jefford brings more than 30 years’ experience in global financial markets to the firm, particularly in equities, equity derivatives and fixed income.
Before joining Appital, he served as an electronic sales trader at ICAP and prior to that, held sales, electronic and trading positions at Liquidnet, Bloomberg Tradebook and Instinet, covering clients in the EMEA region.
“I am thrilled to welcome Matthew to the Appital team. His industry insights and equity markets expertise are invaluable as we implement our vision to bring technological innovation, efficiency and transparency to equity markets and unlock latent liquidity for investors,” said Mark Badyra, chief executive of Appital.
Jefford’s appointment follows a recent £1.7 million investment secured by Appital from Frontline Ventures and several other angel investors, to bring technological innovation and automation to equity markets. The latest investment follows a £2.5 million funding round last year, which brings the total investment raised to date to £4.85 million.
“There is a clear need in the equity market space to access deal flow opportunities and I look forward to working with the Appital team to make our capabilities available to the wider buyside community,” said Jefford.