VersiFi Acquires Ather Digital

The digital asset trading and lending firm, VersiFi acquires Ather Digital for an undisclosed amount. The deal, which closed in May, bolsters VersiFi’s suite of trading technology to include direct market access (DMA), algorithmic trading and smart order routing (SOR).

Ather Digital was spun out of Manifold Capital Partners (“Manifold”), a systematic quantitative investment firm, in 2022. Its technology was developed in partnership with Manifold and other HFT hedge funds specifically to meet their digital assets trading requirements and will be integrated into VersiFi’s trading and lending platform. Manifold and other leading investors will now be minority shareholders in VersiFi.

“This acquisition accelerates our product strategy and gives us a comprehensive suite of trading solutions earlier than anticipated,” said Sameer Shalaby, founder and co-CEO of VersiFi. “Built with the needs of quantitative investment managers in mind, Ather’s technology has exceptional performance, efficiency and interoperability characteristics that can translate into significant cost savings for clients. We are delighted to welcome the Ather team to VersiFi and together launch these capabilities to market.”

In addition, Ather Digital’s team of developers and Abu Dhabi office are now part of VersiFi, and founder and chief technology officer, Sidharth Sankhe, has taken the role of Head of Quant Trading Technologies as part of VersiFi’s executive leadership team. VersiFi also has plans to grow its presence in the UAE.

“We are excited to back such a powerful and proven team. VersiFi is perfectly equipped to turn Ather’s vision into reality,” said Jae Chung, founder and CEO of Manifold Capital Partners. “With so many ways to collaborate, Manifold will be giving maximal support to VersiFi as they continue to scale.”

“We, alongside Ather’s other institutional investors, are excited to partner with VersiFi’s leadership team to continue our efforts in taking Ather’s technology to market,” said Richard Blankenship, Founder & General Partner of Dream Ventures. “VersiFi’s vision is complementary to Ather’s – and ours – and we are confident that their combined technology and teams will create a highly differentiated industry offering.”