It was only 10 years ago that ArchEx (Archipelago) launched what would become the first all electronic stock exchange in the United States. By offering expanded hours and using technology to better match buy and sell orders for stocks, they won market share away from the traditional exchanges (NASDAQ then NYSE) and transformed the securities industry.
Putnam co-founded the company in 1996. It began as a communications platform (ECN) and then morphed into a full exchange with their partnership (and later purchase of) the Pacific Exchange. They IPO'd in 2004. But the coup was the 2006 $9B merger with the NYSE, that took the 200 year-old exchange public and installed the ArchEx technology as the hub of the securities world.
Dimensions: 250 people x 10 years x $493MM
Funding: Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, E-Trade, General Atlantic Partners.
Customers: Securities traders and brokers
Location: Chicago [Downtown] + www.archipelago.com
