Thoma Bravo is looking to address problems for both sellside and buyside institutions with the second investment from its fifth Discover middle market buyout fund.

Fragmentation in the capital markets technology segment forces customers to have 20 different order management systems rather than streamlining those services, George Jaber, a principal on the Discover team told Mergermarket. The Chicago-headquartered private equity firm is hoping to solve that problem with its recent investment in Trading Technologies.

“Customers have incredible budgets in this space. Think about the hedge funds, the exchanges, the market makers, the venues – there are huge dollars at play,” Jaber said. “If you have one better trade because you have this system, that pays for itself in one trade.”

Thoma Bravo’s strategy for its Discover Fund V, which closed last year on USD 8.1bn, largely mirrors that of its larger flagship funds, according to Jaber: find market‑leading, mission‑critical software businesses with loyal and “fanatic” customer bases, proven management teams, and profitable growth that can be accelerated under the firm’s ownership. The Discover strategy targets companies generating between USD 100m and USD 400m in revenue.

“Is it a platform? Can we double the size of this business by revenue, both organically and with M&A?” Jaber said.

Within fintech, capital markets technology is a priority area for this strategy. Jaber described the sector as “huge,” citing the global nature of trading across exchanges and venues and the corresponding need for resilient infrastructure and software. These major sellside and buyside institutions increasingly want to consolidate their tech stack, he said.

A trader today may have four different screens open to make consecutive trades of different assets because there isn’t a system that can integrate multi-asset class trades and make them simultaneously. A solution that does so would free up inefficiencies and lower costs across trading desks as well as provide better insight to book and portfolio management, Jaber said.

Trading Technologies sits at the center of that thesis.

Founded in 1994, the company historically built a loyal following among derivatives traders with software for commodities and energy futures and options, interest rates, and cryptocurrencies. It has evolved to a broader futures and options platform, and Thoma Bravo hopes to transform it to an entire capital markets platform, Jaber said.

The business today provides trading and charting software alongside enterprise solutions that help institutions build their trading infrastructure. It runs data warehouses across major financial centers in the US, Europe, and Asia, with users spanning proprietary trading firms, brokers, money managers, hedge funds, and risk managers.

Thoma Bravo is doubling down on the capital markets tech space not long after selling Adenza Group to Nasdaq in 2023 for USD 10bn, a deal that marked the latter company’s largest-ever buy and the fourth largest among domestic exchanges, according to Dealogic data at the time. Adenza’s software provides capital market, investment management, risk management and other services to banks and brokerages.

Partnership with 7RIDGE

Thoma Bravo announced its investment in Trading Technologies in July 2025 and closed the transaction late last year, entering a 50-50 partnership with existing owner 7RIDGE, which acquired the company in 2021. 7RIDGE transferred its investment in the company to a USD 835m continuation vehicle, co-led by Pantheon and Partners Group.

While Thoma Bravo is usually a majority owner, its Discover funds often pursue partnership structures where it can bring software scaling expertise alongside a specialist partner’s sector knowledge, Jaber explained.

The Trading Technologies process followed 7RIDGE’s decision to explore options for the business in early 2025, when it hired Houlihan Lokey as adviser. According to Jaber, the transaction did not involve multiple bid rounds. Thoma Bravo did not appoint a financial adviser on the deal.

Jaber characterized the transaction as a growth buyout where Thoma Bravo deployed more equity than debt, leaving both equity and debt capacity to fund future acquisitions. He declined to comment on financials, deal value, or return expectations.

In the Trading Technologies deal, Thoma Bravo is focusing on go‑to‑market improvement and M&A execution, while 7RIDGE contributes industry perspective and long‑standing operating experience in capital markets.

Jaber had known Trading Technologies for about a decade, having first reached out to its former CEO roughly 10 years ago. Thoma Bravo spent years building relationships with both 7RIDGE and successive management teams before investing.

Thoma Bravo has purchased more than 500 software companies. Its typical approach to value creation: help with operational blocking and tackling like a go-to-market strategy, quota setting, improvements in project management, and faster research and development. With those efficiencies in place, the company has more ability to reinvest and add debt capacity for add-ons, Jaber said.

With Trading Technologies, it began acquiring right away, and it expects to continue to do so, according to Jaber.

The add-on acquisition of risk analytics provider OpenGamma, announced shortly after Thoma Bravo came into Trading Technologies, was in the works even as Thoma Bravo and 7RIDGE were finalizing their deal, he said.

Against a fragmented capital markets technology landscape, Trading Technologies is positioned as a “friendly consolidator,” looking to add point solutions to a single, modern platform, Jaber added.