ETPLink secures funding led by Qube Research & Technologies and Jump Trading
ETPLink, a London-based fintech startup, has secured funding in a round led by Qube Research & Technologies and Jump Trading, with participation from angel investor Arnaud Llinas, who will join its board. The round amount was undisclosed. The company will use the funding to develop its ETF primary market platform and support expansion across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
ETPLink, a London-based fintech startup, has secured funding in a round led by Qube Research & Technologies and Jump Trading, with participation from angel investor Arnaud Llinas, who will join its board. The round amount was undisclosed. The money will be used to accelerate development of an API-led distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform that aims to simplify ETF primary market workflows across Europe and Asia-Pacific — a practical attempt to modernise the market “plumbing” that underpins growing ETF volumes.
Why it matters
ETF issuance and redemptions involve multiple parties and legacy systems, which creates friction as the product class scales. The ETF market added 100 new issuers in 2025. A neutral infrastructure that reduces reconciliation and manual hand-offs could materially lower cost and operational risk for authorised participants, issuers and custodians — and make it easier to introduce tokenised ETF products when regulators and market participants are ready.
Inside the product
ETPLink offers an open-architecture platform that connects authorised participants, issuers, transfer agents, custodians and fund administrators through APIs, on a DLT and smart-contract foundation. The company says the platform supports multi-asset workflows and client-specific customisation, with typical implementation timelines ranging from two weeks to three months from proof of concept to production.
ETPLink reports 24/7 platform availability since launch and a 24/6 support model. The technical aim is pragmatic: replace fragmented, manual processes with a shared digital workflow that handles creation and redemption messages, reconciliations and settlement instructions. That positioning also leaves room for future tokenised ETFs, though regulatory and market adoption remain the gating factors for on-chain ETF issuance.
Who are the investors?
The round is led by Qube Research & Technologies (QRT) and Jump Trading, two quantitative trading firms with large technology footprints and active trading desks across traditional and digital assets. Angel investor Arnaud Llinas — former head of Lyxor and Amundi ETFs and now an operating partner at BlackFin Capital Partners — participated in the round and has been appointed to the ETPLink board.
The involvement of trading firms and an issuer-side veteran signals a cross-industry interest in a neutral utility rather than a vendor tied to a single bank or exchange. That backing could help with initial onboarding of liquidity providers and authorised participants, which is crucial for a utility that needs network effects to be useful.
In the announcement, a QRT representative at Qube Research & Technologies said:
Scaling an ETF trading business requires infrastructure that can handle greater activity without multiplying operational complexity. By connecting participants and simplifying workflows, ETPLink can help us reduce manual intervention and the friction created by fragmented systems. We see real value in supporting an independent industry solution whose benefits can extend across the ETF ecosystem.
In the announcement, Arnaud Llinas, an angel investor and incoming board member, said:
ETF infrastructure needs to meet today’s operational challenges while being ready for new on-chain products and market structures. ETPLink’s multi-asset approach and use of DLT and smart contracts provide a strong foundation for that evolution, including the development of tokenised ETFs. I’m delighted to join the board and help the team translate that potential into lasting value for clients.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Bo Bjurgert, co-founder of ETPLink, said:
We believe the ETF industry needs shared infrastructure that brings participants together and makes it easier for their businesses to scale. Having key stakeholders invest in ETPLink is an important step towards that vision. Our ambition is to make collaboration on infrastructure the industry standard, freeing firms to focus on the products and services that set them apart.
That statement frames ETPLink as an industry utility aiming to remove friction rather than compete on product distribution. Execution will depend on commercial traction with issuers, authorised participants and service providers who currently operate with bespoke processes.
The bigger picture
ETPLink’s raise and the profile of its backers reflect several broader trends: growing institutional interest in DLT experimentation, the operational strain from rapid ETF growth, and a pragmatic push for neutral market utilities that can lower costs across participants. Recent developments elsewhere in the market — such as efforts to list tokenised equities and bring traditional securities on-chain — show a parallel track where infrastructure providers and trading firms are preparing for hybrid on-chain/off-chain workflows.
For UK and European markets, the bet is that interoperable, industry-owned platforms will reduce lock-in to bank or exchange-specific systems and help domestic issuers compete globally. Whether ETPLink can achieve the network effects necessary to become a standard depends on onboarding a critical mass of counterparties and navigating regulatory expectations as tokenised product use cases mature.
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