Cicada has raised US$13.5 million in its Series A funding round, intending to expand its LatAm e-trading offering.
The company aims to offer electronic trading to local-currency bond markets in Latin America, which are currently dominated by voice trading. In Mexico, where Cicada offers a central limit order book, the firm states that 98% of the US$500 billion fixed income market is non-electronic.
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.”
Funding will be used to increase liquidity and geographical coverage, invest in infrastructure and deepen integration with third-party platforms, Cicada stated. An expansion of the product suite is expected to include an electronic interest rate swap execution venue, initially focused on the Mexican TIIE market.
Cicada is also running a strategic equity programme for market makers, the members of which are being finalised.
Venture capital firms including Kaszek, Dila, Crestone, and the Brazilian Stock Exchange’s venture capital arm L4 have participated in the funding round, which was led by Citi.
L4 managing partner Tiago Wigman commented, “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.”
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