As a sign of how regtech is seen as big business, a prominent growth equity house has bought a stake in a firm helping financial organizations cope with compliance burdens.

AxiomSL, the US-headquartered regulatory reporting (aka "regtech") and risk data firm, has received a "strategic investment" from growth equity firm TCV.

The financing, the size of which wasn't disclosed in yesterday's statement from AxiomSL, is the first time an institution has put money into the firm, AxiomSL, founded in 1991, said.

"TCV’s investment will enable the company to accelerate growth and cement its position as the financial industry standard for risk and regulatory compliance data management.
"As part of the investment, the AxiomSL board of directors will benefit from the expertise of Rick Kimball, Founding General Partner at TCV, and Nari Ansari, Principal at TCV," AxiomSL said.

Regtech is now big business and slated to become greater given the need of financial firms to figure out ways to handle mounting compliance burdens in an efficient way. Risk technology research firm Chartis has estimated that financial institutions spent more than $70 billion in 2016 on risk and compliance IT software and services.

Among recent developments in the sector, a community of individuals and organizations have joined together to launch the non-profit International RegTech Association (IRTA), in a bid to innovate the future of regulatory technology across several sectors including financial services. Sponsored and funded by its members, the IRTA hopes to accelerate the evolution of regtech through integration, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing.

“The data governance and reporting issues that financial institutions face are only increasing in significance and complexity,” said Nari Ansari, Principal at TCV. “Simultaneously, cost and compliance pressures are causing firms to automate and standardize their procedures throughout their organizations. AxiomSL’s innovative platform and solution set enables clients to address both challenges in a flexible and transparent way.”

TCV, with offices in northern California, New York and London, has made more than $9 billion of investments, with a focus on technology businesses. It was founded in 1995.