This ‘dating app’ for investment banking is going places

A Singapore startup that has brought technology to the traditional investment banking industry is fast expanding following its recently concluded funding round in July.

BankerBay, a deal-matching platform that uses algorithms to match institutional investors with corporate deals, will set up its new headquarters in New York later this month, and open an office in Shanghai by the end of this year.

Plans for a London office next year are also underway. It currently has offices in Singapore and India.



“We need to have representation in each of the financial capitals of the world,” said CEO and founder Romesh Jayawickrama “because at the end of the day we need to sell the product into that financial capital and being right there is always beneficial.”

A former investment banker, Romesh has 20 years of experience at banks such as Nomura, ING, and CLSA.

Rapid growth

Since its launch two years ago, the startup has seen monthly deal flows on its platform increase from US$75 million to US$10 billion. BankerBay has raised US$4 million in funding so far, half of which was secured in a pre-Series A round in July this year from private investors.

From an initial team of three, BankerBay has grown its staff size to 30 employees across Singapore, India, and New York. The startup includes a core team of ex-bankers called transaction management analysts (TMAs), who assess deals submitted to the platform to ensure their quality.

Bringing an old-fashioned industry up to date

Investment banking has long operated on standard procedures. Bankers meet clients and build relationships with them, which can take months and sometimes even years to forge.



As an investment banker, Romesh found this time-consuming and costly.

“Investment banking hasn’t changed since the early 1900s,” said Romesh. However, the global financial crisis of 2008 forced an increase in transparency and regulations in the industry, exposing many of its inefficiencies.

“Revenues of virtually all of the bulge bracket banks have suffered massively, with profitability falling through the floor.” Said Romesh. “We’re trying to help the banks stay relevant by adopting efficient technology.”

How BankerBay works

The idea for BankerBay came from many years of personal frustration with the traditional investment banking industry. Romesh saw the potential to automate many parts of the deal origination and distribution process, including the gathering of critical information about capital seekers and investors.

As an online platform, BankerBay encourages users to fill criteria sheets which not only ask standard questions like geography, industry segment, and revenue; but also identify more refined characteristics of deals that can match investors’ highly specific investment requirements.



On BankerBay’s platform, deal originators fill out criteria sheets and upload relevant documentation. Each deal is first assessed by the TMAs to ensure that it is of good quality, before it is approved for the platform.

Institutional investors also fill out a criteria sheet, which helps identify the kinds of deals they are looking for. Within milliseconds, the platform returns deals that correlate 85% or above with their interests, an extremely relevant match.

The outlook for BankerBay

While the initial outlook for the platform has been a huge success, CIMB economist Song Seng Wun said that the platform would have to adapt to various market environments depending on the regions it operates in.

However, he continues to mention that Bankerbay could give investors and deal originators a better selection of choices with which to strike deals, which is a remarkable thing indeed.