One Year On

As we were preparing to present at the FINOS OSSF conference this year, I started to reflect on how it was just last year at OSSF that we first debuted the beta release of Connectifi.  The response we got then was overwhelmingly positive, with a clear recognition of the differentiation Connectifi’s cloud approach had from the other providers of FDC3.  A year ago, Connectifi consisted of myself and my co-founder, Brian Schwinn, bootstrapping our dream with some generous support from friends and allies.  So much can happen in a year though…

In June 2023, we announced seed funding for Connectifi, which has allowed us to expand our team and provided the runway to focus strategically on the product.   The funding was significant for more than these reasons though.  Connectifi stands out among the first companies originating from a FINOS project to receive VC funding.  The funding also signaled a specific interest from silicon valley VC firms in application interoperability and a recognition that Connectifi’s approach could lead to a break out moment for this technology.  As one of our investors put it: ‘the differentiated approach by Connectifi and the technology they have already developed will be rapidly adopted as enterprises recognize the benefits of FDC3’.

And then there’s product delivery.

In the one year since our beta launch we have:

• Launched our FDC3 Sandbox, the only free hosted utility for FDC3 that runs completely in the browser, and welcomed our first 3rd party applications into the FDC3 sandbox.
• Released our first native clients for .NET and iOS
• Upgraded our service to FDC3 2.0
• Created an open source project for leveraging FDC3 with web portals/micro-frontends.
• Went into POC at over 6 financial firms including global buy sides, banks, and vendors.

We came to  this year’s OSSF not only with all of these developments, but also as a newly minted FINOS member, a sponsor of the conference, and a keynote speaker.  In our keynote, we addressed what we think it will take for FDC3 to cross the chasm from capital markets to a main stream interoperability technology.  The attendee count this year was over 750 and anyone in attendance would likely agree that this was the best FINOS event yet.  The level of interest and quality of feedback we received regarding our vision for FDC3 driven interoperability was completely energizing.  Suffice to say, we are heading into the last leg of 2023 feeling the momentum of what has been achieved so far this year.  So, a big thanks to FINOS and the Linux foundation for your leadership and support, and to everyone who has helped us get here in the past year, and to everyone who will join us next year. We’re absolutely thrilled for the road ahead!