From NYSE to Startup: LODAS Markets’ Journey of Bringing Exchange Tech to Private Markets
How do you transform a traditional market that’s resistant to change? In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, LODAS Markets CEO Brian King revealed how his experience building some of the world’s largest exchanges helped him identify – and solve – a critical gap in private market trading.
The Exchange Builder’s Journey
Before LODAS Markets, Brian was a key player in building transformative financial exchanges. “I was one of the original members of the startup team for Bats Markets Today. It was acquired by CBOE, and so now it has a lot of success in the markets,” he explains. His journey continued internationally: “I also had the opportunity to move over to London and was the first person on the ground to start building Bats Europe. Today, that is the largest exchange in Europe.”
Spotting the Private Market Opportunity
At the New York Stock Exchange, where Brian spent “almost five years overseeing trading, market structure, and ETF,” he began seeing parallels between past market transformations and current private market inefficiencies. The catalyst came from personal experience: “I had a lot of family members and friends that were trapped in illiquid investments. And in some cases, the outcome was a total nightmare. They wanted to sell, but there just was no way out.”
Bringing Exchange DNA to Private Markets
Rather than building a simple marketplace, LODAS Markets made a crucial decision: operate as an Alternative Trading System (ATS). As Brian describes it, they function “a lot like a stock exchange. It’s just a stock exchange for real estate.” This infrastructure choice brought public market standards to private market trading.
Technology as Market Transformer
The team recognized that technology could bridge the gap between traditional private market practices and modern trading needs. “We’ve made the process incredibly simple. Literally, somebody can set up an account in less than five minutes. But it’s all done through technology, which I think if you look back, even just three years, nothing was done with technology in this space,” Brian reveals.
Understanding Institutional Requirements
LODAS Markets’ exchange experience helped them understand institutional needs from day one. “The institutional buyers that we have, they have a very specific appetite, meaning that in many cases, they have reserved or earmarked several million dollars for a specific product or asset class,” Brian explains. This insight shaped their platform’s development.
Building Through Crisis
The company’s launch coincided with unprecedented challenges. “The crazy part though, is the timing in which we raised our first round was literally right when COVID happened,” Brian shares. Yet they succeeded in building relationships virtually, demonstrating how technology could transform even the most relationship-driven aspects of finance.
Vision for Market Evolution
Looking ahead, Brian sees technology breaking down traditional market silos: “Right now, everything works kind of in a silo and so to be able to connect to other institutions through technology and we’re just on the cusp of doing that now.” With between one and two billion dollars already represented on their marketplace, this vision of interconnected markets is becoming reality.
For tech founders targeting traditional industries, LODAS Markets’ journey offers crucial lessons:
- Deep domain expertise can help identify overlooked opportunities
- Enterprise-grade infrastructure builds institutional trust
- Technology should enhance, not replace, existing relationships
- Market transformation requires understanding both current practices and future possibilities
Their story demonstrates how expertise from one market segment can be leveraged to transform another, especially when combined with modern technology and a clear vision for industry evolution.