Sparta raises $17.5 million to deliver next-generation market intelligence technology for commodity trading 

We are delighted to announce that we have closed a $17.5 million Series A funding round led by technology venture capital firm FirstMark, alongside existing shareholder Singular.

Sparta is a live market intelligence and forecasting platform that gives traders, refiners, banks, hedge funds and wholesalers access to live leading indicators that have a direct impact on trading decisions. While most data platforms in the space focus on past trends and data, Sparta is unique in the market as the only platform that concentrates exclusively on delivering prices and opportunities that can still be traded and captured.

Sparta was founded in 2020 by two former traders, Miles Moseley and Felipe Elink Schuurman, to answer a common problem shared by most traders: 90% of pricing data required to make trading decisions is kept in silos and shared manually by voice, email, or chat. This information is then manually processed into trading insights through Excel spreadsheets and there is a lack of centralised databases to allow analysis of historical price movements and trends. Consequently, traders do not have all of the information that they need, when they need it, to make fully informed decisions in a fast-moving market.

Our ground-breaking technology is designed to substantially increase the speed and effectiveness of commodity traders by presenting market intelligence, pricing and forecasting data in real-time, allowing our users to spot trading opportunities before their competition.

The investment will allow us to expand our pioneering work beyond our platform, to fulfil our vision of becoming an all-encompassing intelligence provider to the commodity industry, with plans ranging from developing premium insight, expanding to new commodity verticals, implementing full customisation processes, optimising workflow processes and developing AI tools with the aim to provide forward-looking actionable insights and predictions.

The raise will also support our globalisation plans. Currently located in Geneva, London, Houston, Singapore and Madrid, we plan to expand our presence within these existing territories, as well as establishing a foothold in new regions.

Felipe Elink Schuurman, CEO at Sparta, said: “We’re delighted to have gained the support the team at FirstMark, and the continued support of Singular, to help us execute on the next phase of our vision – to revolutionise the way traders gather, process, analyse, and interpret data to inform strategic decision-making in real time and help organizations anticipate future developments and capture more opportunities. Ultimately this will enable the industry to generate higher margins

“When Sparta was founded, we identified huge opportunities for innovation in the trading sector. As we’ve grown and developed, our technology has become increasingly advanced and its potential to transform other sectors has become ever clearer. ”

Matt Turck, Partner at FirstMark. “11 of the 20 most profitable companies in the world are commodities companies, and commodities is a huge asset class in financial markets. Yet the industry has been trailing others in its evolution towards a fully digital, data-driven, real-time world.

“Despite only being a three-year-old company, Sparta has been ushering a new era in the commodities trading industry, providing not just real-time data but also predictive analytics, increasingly powered by data science, ML and AI. Sparta has assembled a great team of both industry veterans and technologists, and it’s been experiencing impressive commercial traction with customers around the world. We’re thrilled to partner with the company and its team.”

Raffi Kamber, Partner at Singular: “Singular are delighted to extend our commitment to Sparta. We first came on board because we saw the incredible potential of Sparta’s vision, and we’re expanding our commitment because we’re seeing the realisation of that potential and beyond.

“Sparta’s innovative approach, strong leadership, and highly impressive growth trajectory have convinced us that they are already disrupting the commodity sector, creating lasting value for customers and investors alike. It’s been a pleasure for Singular to work with Felipe, Miles and the team on the development of Sparta over the last 3 years, and we’re very excited for what’s ahead.”

About Sparta

Founded in 2020, Sparta made waves in the commodity analytics space in March 2022 when it secured a $6m Seed investment from European venture firm, Singular.

The platform, created by former traders Miles Moseley and Felipe Elink Schuurman, is designed to answer a common problem shared by most traders: 90% of pricing data required to make trading decisions is kept in silos and shared manually by voice, email, or chat.

Sparta breaks these existing data silos and combines the physical and paper markets to provide traders with live access to global raw prices, from futures and swaps to forward freight and physical premiums. We work with clients globally, including Philips 66, Chevron, Trafigura, Equinor and more.

Contact
For more information, please contact us at press@spartacommodities.com