Capitolis Secures $220M for eSecLending Purchase

On October 6, 2026, Capitolis announced a completed $220 million financing package: a $120 million Series E equity round at a $1.9 billion valuation and an implied $100 million debt component to support its pending eSecLending acquisition. Existing investor Citi led the equity round. New strategic investors Bank of America, Nomura and Tradeweb Markets joined existing backers Barclays, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, State Street and UBS. First Citizens Innovation Banking, Hercules Capital and Pinegrove Venture Partners were named as debt providers.

The Calcalist interview put Capitolis’s previous funding valuation at $1.6 billion in 2022 and quoted founder and CEO Gil Mandelzis describing debt as “much cheaper for the company,” saying most of the new capital would support the acquisition and forecasting revenue from the purchase as early as the following year. That revenue is an expectation, while the financing is the completed event. The planned purchase would bring an established securities-lending business and its institutional client network into Capitolis.

How the $220 million package is divided

The financing has two components with different consequences for the company. The $120 million Series E sells ownership to investors; the remaining $100 million is the debt amount implied by subtracting equity from the announced total. The $1.9 billion valuation belongs to the equity round. It does not value the debt or describe the price of eSecLending.

That distinction also matters when comparing the financing with the acquisition price. The package exceeds the agreed purchase price, but the figures alone do not assign particular equity or debt proceeds to the cash payment. They also do not establish that the full debt amount has been drawn. The financing provides capacity for the transaction and Capitolis’s expansion, while the timing and terms of any borrowing determine when repayment obligations fall due.

Strategic equity brings financial institutions with an interest in capital-markets infrastructure into Capitolis’s shareholder base. Debt provides the rest of the package without selling an equivalent additional stake at the Series E valuation. Its cost falls on future cash flows through interest and repayment obligations. Without a disclosed interest rate and repayment timetable, the CEO’s cheaper-debt assessment cannot be turned into a precise comparison with the cost of issuing more shares.

What eSecLending would add

On September 29, 2026, Capitolis agreed to buy eSecLending for $200 million in cash from Parthenon Capital and eSecLending’s management team. The purchase remains subject to customary closing conditions, required regulatory approvals and antitrust clearance. Parthenon Capital is also investing in Capitolis as part of the transaction.

eSecLending is an independent agent lender serving asset owners including pension funds, insurers and asset managers. Those institutions lend securities to major global banks, and eSecLending’s existing network reaches banks and prime brokers. Capitolis would therefore gain operating expertise and relationships on the asset-owner side of securities lending, alongside the institutional counterparties that borrow securities. The value of that network lies in the participants already connected through the business, not simply in adding securities lending to a product list.

Capitolis’s existing Capital Marketplace and Portfolio Optimization businesses address funding, capital and balance-sheet use for banks and other financial institutions. Bringing an agent lender into that platform would extend its reach to owners of lendable securities and add a securities-financing activity with an established client base. Integration could create room for additional services, but the acquired operations can become part of Capitolis only after the transaction closes.

The deal has a specific corporate boundary: eSecLending (Europe) Limited is excluded and is expected to continue providing services to eSecLending. That arrangement means the planned acquisition does not transfer every entity bearing the eSecLending name. It also leaves the continuing service relationship relevant to how the business operates after closing.

What the new valuation measures

The move from the reported $1.6 billion valuation for the 2022 funding round to $1.9 billion for the new equity round is a $300 million increase, or 18.75% based on those two figures. It measures the change between stated funding-round valuations. It is neither a return earned by earlier investors nor a valuation of a combined Capitolis and eSecLending business.

The funding mix makes the acquisition’s performance consequential in a different way from an all-equity purchase. If the acquired operation generates cash as expected, it may help support the debt obligations; if integration or revenue takes longer, those obligations remain. The next concrete milestone is regulatory clearance and closing of the cash acquisition, which will determine when Capitolis can bring eSecLending’s asset-owner network into its operating platform.