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Symphony
IndustryFinancial Technology
GenreCommunication software
Websitewww.symphony.com

Symphony is an instant messaging service designed for use by financial firms. It offers features such as encryption, group messaging, the ability to share rich content, and support for third-party plugins. Symphony is developed by Symphony Communication Services.

History

The technology was initially developed by Goldman Sachs as an internal messaging system called Live Current.[1] In October 2014, Goldman Sachs and 14 other financial institutions invested $66 million to establish Symphony Communication Services LLC[2] and acquire Perzo, Inc.,[3] a secure communication application known for its end-to-end encryption messaging.[4]

Perzo was founded by David Gurle in 2012, and he served as Symphony's CEO from 2014 to 2021.[5] Perzo played a role in developing communication solutions for Skype, Thomson Reuters, and Microsoft.[6]

Symphony 2.0 was announced during the company's annual Innovate Conference in New York City in October 2019.[7][1] This new version introduced features like a customizable user interface and smart notifications. The release of software components called Elements aimed to facilitate the development of custom applications on the Symphony platform.[8] Symphony 2.0 was launched one year later.[9]

By 2020, Symphony claimed to have amassed over 400,000 users on its platform.[9]

Brad Levy joined Symphony in July 2020 as the president and chief commercial officer. In June 2021, he assumed the role of chief executive officer after former founder David Gurle stepped down from the executive position. Levy had previous experience working at Goldman Sachs and IHS Markit before joining Symphony.[10]

Funding

In September 2014, fifteen financial firms, including Bank of America and BNY Mellon, made investments in Symphony.[11]

In October 2015, Symphony announced a successful funding round of $100 million, led by Google. Lakestar, Natixis, and other firms also participated in the investment.[12]

In May 2017, Symphony secured an additional $63 million in funding from BNP Paribas and existing investors, resulting in a total valuation of the company surpassing $1 billion.[13]

In June 2019, Symphony announced a funding round of $165 million with a valuation of $1.4 billion. Standard Chartered, MUFG Innovation Partners, and other undisclosed current and new investors contributed to the funding. Since September 2014, Symphony has raised a total of $460 million.[14]

The company's most recent funding round took place in December 2020, known as the Series E round, where it raised $50 million from existing investors.[15]

Acquisitions

On November 28, 2014, Symphony Communication Services LLC completed the acquisition of technology assets from Collaboration Services, the open messaging network developed by Markit Ltd. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.[16]

On August 2, 2021, Symphony Communication Services LLC acquired StreetLinx, a counterparty mapping platform.[17]

License

The Symphony Software Foundation has announced its decision to use the Apache License 2.0 for providing the software as open-source. The foundation will make the contributions available through its GitHub repository.

References

  1. ^ a b Alloway, Tracy. "Goldman's Symphony of Babble". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  2. ^ Baer, Justin. "Goldman-Led Group of Firms Buys Perzo to Form Instant-Messaging Company". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  3. ^ LaCapra, Lauren. "Goldman leads investment by Wall Street in new communications platform". Reuters. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  4. ^ Fulton, Kane. "Perzo: a military-grade messaging service that keeps the NSA at arms' length". Techradar. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  5. ^ Miller, Ron. "Wall Street-Backed Symphony Wants To Revolutionize Financial Services Communication". TechCrunch. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  6. ^ Baer, Justin (30 September 2014). "Wall Street's Chat Plan Turns to Perzo's Chief". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Announcing Symphony 2.0". 3 October 2019.
  8. ^ Kerravala, Zeus (2019-11-02). "How Symphony 2.0 Approaches Automation, Workflows". eWEEK. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  9. ^ a b Kerravala, Zeus (2020-10-17). "Symphony Redesigns Platform for Work-from-Anywhere Trend". eWEEK. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  10. ^ "Symphony Announces CEO Transition". 14 April 2021.
  11. ^ Spring, Tom (5 March 2015). "Goldman Sachs-Backed Symphony Launches Secure Social Network". IT BOB. The Channel Company. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  12. ^ Booton, Jennifer. "Google Leads $100 Million Funding Round For Symphony". Fox Business. Fox Business. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. ^ Baer, Justin (2017-05-16). "Symphony Raises $63 Million From BNP Paribas, Others". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-06-11.
  14. ^ "Symphony, a messaging app that's been a hit with Wall Street, raises $165M at a $1.4B valuation". TechCrunch. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  15. ^ "TechCrunch is part of the Yahoo family of brands". consent.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  16. ^ Baer, Justin. "Bank-Backed Firm Buys Chat Service". WSJ. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Symphony acquires StreetLinx to offer the most complete and secure verified identity directory in financial services". Yahoo. Retrieved 1 October 2021.

External links

Goldman Sachs
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