Citi leads funding for the U.S.-regulated, all-to-all platform, bringing institutional electronic trading to Latin American local-currency bond markets. Leading Wall Street market makers join Cicada’s strategic equity program to capture early-stage opportunity.
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#EmergingMarkets—Cicada, the U.S.-regulated electronic trading platform connecting institutional capital to Latin American local-currency markets, today announced it has raised US$13.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Citi, with participation from the Brazilian Stock Exchange B3 through its independent venture capital arm L4, as well as Kaszek, Dila, and Crestone. The financing includes a parallel strategic equity program designed to anchor liquidity through committed market makers, attracting leading Wall Street institutions as early participants.
Local-currency bond markets across Latin America remain predominantly voice-driven. Cicada is bringing efficiency to Mexico’s $500 billion fixed income market, where over 98% of $5–7 billion daily trading remains non-electronic. Through its SEC-registered alternative trading system (ATS) and innovative proprietary execution protocols, Cicada is creating transparency and a level playing field via its all-to-all marketplace, connecting global buy-side and sell-side institutions across borders.
“Collaboration across trading venues is essential to boosting liquidity and facilitating stronger North-South capital flows. Cicada’s platform enables institutions to source and distribute liquidity electronically at scale, strengthening the integration of North American capital markets and expanding access for global investors to local-currency bonds,” said Tiago Wigman, Managing Partner at L4.
“Having Citi lead this round, together with capital from B3 and a dedicated equity program for market makers, is critical to scaling liquidity on the platform,” said Ignacio Tovar, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Cicada. “This combination of strategic capital and active participation from liquidity providers strengthens our foundation as core market infrastructure for local-currency emerging-market debt.”
Javier Hernandez, Co-CEO of Cicada, added, “We’ve built the first fully all-to-all, truly global electronic marketplace for secondary trading in Mexican local-currency bonds, bringing institutional-grade capabilities to a market that has long needed it. We’re now positioned to expand this model across additional Latin American markets as electronification continues to accelerate.”
The strategic equity program offers a limited allocation for select liquidity providers to align incentives and accelerate liquidity formation on the platform. Early participating market makers benefit from the platform’s growth and the broader digitalization of Latin American fixed income markets, reshaping billions of dollars in daily trading volume. With leading Wall Street institutions already committed, Cicada is finalizing its initial cohort of strategic partners on the platform.
Cicada has also introduced one of the first central limit order books (CLOB) for Mexican local-currency bonds. Together with Cicada’s proprietary spread-trading functionality and Double Down execution protocol, the platform enables more sophisticated execution strategies for institutional participants.
The new capital will be deployed to expand commercial efforts, boost liquidity, add new products and geographies, and deepen integrations with third-party global platforms, while continuing to invest in the regulatory, compliance, and risk infrastructure designed for global institutions. As part of its product expansion, Cicada plans to develop an electronic interest rate swap execution venue, initially focused on Mexican TIIE, a market with average daily trading volumes of approximately $24 billion, which is growing annually.
Aldo Alvarez, LatAm Lead at Citi’s Markets Strategic Investments unit, added, “Citi’s participation in Cicada’s platform reflects our commitment to support electronic trading and will enhance the efficiency of the multi-billion-dollar Mexican and Latin American fixed income market.”
ABOUT CICADA
Cicada is the first-ever all-to-all electronic trading venue for emerging-market local-currency bonds. Through a modern execution stack including a central limit order book (CLOB), RFQ workflows, and advanced proprietary trading protocols such as Spread Trading and Double Downs, Cicada delivers direct electronic access to local-currency bond markets.
Cicada Securities is a U.S. broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA, and operates an alternative trading system built to meet the standards of global institutional participants. Cicada’s mission is to create a level playing field and become the reference all-to-all venue for local emerging-market securities.
To learn more, visit www.cicada.io.
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