Entrepreneur · Investor

Laurent Useldinger

Founder of ULLINK, built over 17 years and sold in 2018. An entrepreneur turned investor, without abandoning the operator's seat.

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Laurent Useldinger

An entrepreneurial drive. Shaped across continents.

Born in 1971 with French and Luxembourger citizenship, Laurent grew up among entrepreneurs. A grandfather who directed a construction company sparked an early interest in real estate and the built environment, well before financial markets took over.

His education took him across three countries: France until 15, the French Lycée in Mexico City, then a Bachelor in Business and an MBA in the United States. Four languages and an early grasp of how business works on different continents.

His first role in Toronto combined hospitality and real estate, but the pull of capital markets was stronger. He returned to France as a broker, joining GL Trade in 1999: one of the first French FinTech companies, then a global leader in capital markets IT systems.

Four years on the trading floor surfaced a clear thesis: the systems routing financial market orders could, and should, be made more compatible with each other. That insight became ULLINK.

From a Paris startup to a global leader.

A 17-year story that built the experience UL Invest deploys today.

  • $650M
    Exit value
    First a majority stake in 2014 to HG Capital, funding a transformational build-up strategy: then a full exit in 2018 to ITIVITI, a Nordic Capital portfolio company.
  • 17 yrs
    From founding to exit
    Thirteen years building independently, then accelerated in depth alongside a majority partner.
  • 8 hubs
    Global footprint
    Paris, New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, São Paulo, Hong Kong.
  • 600+
    Employees at peak
    Across eight financial hubs and four continents.
  • €140M+
    Annual revenues at exit
    Rapid growth driven by scaling and a series of strategic acquisitions.
Timeline

What 17 years at ULLINK shaped, UL Invest now brings, alongside the entrepreneurs writing their own story.

  1. 2001

    Founds ULLINK

    Laurent founds ULLINK on a simple thesis: order-routing systems between financial markets should be interoperable. He is joined early by a CTO, and revenues double year on year.

  2. 2008

    Scales through the crisis

    The financial crisis pushes clients to outsource IT systems. ULLINK, a pioneer of PaaS and SaaS for trading, scales rapidly with investment banks and asset managers worldwide.

  3. 2014–2018

    Transforms through acquisitions

    Together with HG Capital as majority partner, ULLINK acquires NYFIX from the NYSE and Metabit in Japan. The platform expands into a global footprint, over half of revenues from the United States.

  4. 2015

    Launches UL Invest

    Laurent founds UL Invest, a private investment vehicle to back entrepreneurs in parallel to scaling ULLINK.

  5. 2018

    Exits ULLINK

    Final exit of ULLINK to ITIVITI, a Nordic Capital portfolio company, closing a 17-year chapter.

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