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Sequoia and Paradigm invest $1.15 billion in Citadel Securities

It's the first outside investment for the market maker, whose customers include Robinhood.

Ken Griffin, founder and chairman of Citadel Securities

Ken Griffin is the founder and chairman of Citadel Securities, which received new investment from Sequoia and Paradigm.

Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sequoia Capital and Paradigm have invested $1.15 billion in market maker Citadel Securities as their new portfolio company considers new assets such as crypto, the companies said Tuesday.

The deal values the firm, which is majority-owned by founder and chairman Ken Griffin, at close to $22 billion in its first outside investment.

Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers on Wall Street, played a central role in the debate over meme stocks spurred by Robinhood's temporary blocking of share-buying for stocks like GameStop in January 2021, a controversy that spurred regulatory scrutiny over payment for order flow and other practices in retail investing.

Matt Huang of crypto investment firm Paradigm said on Twitter that Citadel would be moving into other assets “including crypto.” Robinhood has been pushing to extend the payment for order flow model into crypto, and currently uses other specialized market makers for that part of its business. Jump Trading, a crypto market maker, has recently said it would expand into equities, a stronghold for Citadel.

Tomio Geron

Tomio Geron ( @tomiogeron) is a San Francisco-based reporter covering fintech. He was previously a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, covering venture capital and startups. He was also as a staff writer at Forbes covering social media and venture capital, and edited the Midas List of top tech investors. He can be reached at tgeron@protocol.com or tgeron@protonmail.com.

sequoia capitalparadigmcitadelfintechventure capital
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