Investment will accelerate leading clearing and custody firm’s continued scaling, expansion of its product offering and entry into new global markets
NEW YORK & BOSTON – August 27, 2026 – RQD* Clearing (“RQD*” or the “Company”), a technology driven clearing and custody firm providing the infrastructure that broker-dealers, RIAs and foreign financial institutions around the world need to access U.S. markets, today announced a $74 million minority growth investment led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities (“Bain Capital”), with participation from ABN AMRO Clearing Bank and Nyca Partners.
The investment will support RQD*’s continued expansion across North America, Asia and the Middle East, accelerate investment in its technology and product capabilities, including digital assets and tokenization, strengthen its role as a custody infrastructure layer for digital assets and expand the Company’s ability to serve financial institutions seeking modern, scalable access to U.S. markets.
Built as a clearing firm from the ground up rather than as a technology layer on top of legacy or licensed infrastructure, RQD* operates a proprietary platform which provides clients with real-time visibility into their data. This enables clients to more efficiently launch and scale products without relying on the delayed files, fragmented systems and manual processes that continue to characterize the post-trade ecosystem.
RQD* combines technology architecture with deep expertise across the clearing and market structure landscape. The result is infrastructure designed to support sophisticated institutional activity and the rapidly evolving needs of digital-first financial businesses. RQD*’s year to date volumes demonstrate that scale: the firm processed more than 543 million ledger transactions and cleared approximately 515 million equity transactions, representing 69.5 billion shares, nearly $2 trillion in notional value and approximately 2.43% of the NMS equities market. During the same period, RQD* cleared nearly 64.8 million options contracts, representing $120.7 billion in premium and $3.93 trillion in notional value – approximately 0.63% of the options market.
With the investment, Bain Capital joins RQD*’s investor group, which includes ABN AMRO Clearing Bank, Nyca Partners, Gentree Fund and Belvedere Strategic Capital. The investment reinforces the Company’s emergence as the institutional-grade alternative to both legacy clearing platforms and newer brokerage infrastructure providers.
“This investment marks a significant milestone for RQD*, validating the platform we have built and the enormous opportunity ahead. Bain Capital brings deep financial technology expertise, operating capabilities and a global network, making them the ideal partner for our next phase of growth,” said Michael Sanocki, CEO of RQD* Clearing. “Financial institutions should not have to choose between the technology and agility of a fintech and the market-structure expertise, risk management and infrastructure of an institutional clearing firm. We built RQD* to deliver both, and Bain Capital’s investment will help us accelerate that mission while continuing to deliver the flexibility and service our clients expect.”
RQD*’s platform is purpose-built for the way today’s investing businesses operate – real-time, technology-driven and increasingly global. Because RQD* owns and operates its proprietary clearing infrastructure, the Company provides clients with a unified view across clearing, custody and risk, supported by a dynamic, real-time front-end portal that delivers operational visibility and risk-management capabilities. The platform supports 24×5 access to U.S. equity markets through extended-hours trading and can adapt rapidly to new products and operating models. Designed to scale alongside its clients, RQD* delivers sustainable, flexible solutions across asset classes, including equities, options at all levels, ETFs and mutual funds.
“Michael and RQD*’s experienced team of industry experts have done an impressive job building the Company into a highly differentiated clearing and custody business. As capital markets become more global, digital and continuous, RQD* provides the mission-critical infrastructure financial institutions and fintech platforms need to keep pace” said Michael Grandfield, Partner at Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. “RQD* has demonstrated that its platform can support sophisticated clients at meaningful scale while maintaining the flexibility and responsiveness financial institutions increasingly demand. We look forward to partnering with the team as the Company expands its capabilities and global reach.” Demand for access to U.S. markets continues to grow globally as broker-dealers, fintechs and foreign financial institutions seek to offer broader products, longer trading hours and more sophisticated investment capabilities. At the same time, much of the clearing infrastructure underpinning those businesses was designed decades before real-time APIs, extended-hours trading and globally distributed financial platforms. RQD* was built specifically for that environment.
About RQD* Clearing
RQD* is a clearing and custody firm providing the infrastructure broker-dealers, RIAs and foreign financial institutions need to access U.S. markets. Built on proprietary technology, RQD* gives clients real-time visibility into their business and the flexibility to launch, scale and adapt offerings and platforms with speed and confidence. The firm combines transparent, growth-aligned economics with premium service and hands-on expertise across clearing, market structure, trading, technology and operations. To learn more, visit rqdclearing.com.
About Bain Capital
Founded in 1984, Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms. We are committed to creating lasting impact for our investors, portfolio companies, and the communities in which we live. As a private partnership, we lead with conviction and a culture of collaboration, advantages that enable us to innovate investment approaches, unlock opportunities, and create exceptional outcomes. Our global platform invests across five focus areas: Private Equity, Growth & Venture, Capital Solutions, Credit, and Real Assets. We have 24 offices on four continents, more than 1,950 employees, and approximately $225 billion in assets under management. Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities business (baincapitaltechopportunities.com) aims to help growing technology companies reach their full potential. We focus on companies in large, growing end markets with innovative or disruptive technology where we believe we can support transformational growth. Our dedicated, tenured team has deep experience supporting growing technology businesses – bringing together differentiated backgrounds in private and public equity investing as well as technology operating roles. We invest behind fundamental long-term tailwinds as technology penetrates across industries, creating a large and growing number of investment opportunities. To learn more, visit www.baincapital.com. Follow @BainCapital on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).
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For RQD* Clearing:
Ryan Rosenberg
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For Bain Capital:
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