BMLL has hired Michael Chiappinelli as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), giving the financial market data firm a US-based commercial leader to run global sales as it pushes to grow under new private equity ownership.

He reports to Chief Executive Paul Humphrey and joins the company’s executive management team.

BMLL Hands Global Sales to a US Data Veteran

Chiappinelli will oversee the entire global sales function, which now reports to him directly. His job, according to the company, is to widen BMLL’s international footprint and deepen ties with institutional clients.

It is the most senior commercial appointment the firm has made since Nordic Capital bought it last October, in a deal that also involved Optiver, the market maker and existing minority shareholder.

That purchase kicked off a hiring run that has been building for months.

The company brought in Karen King as head of sales for Asia Pacific in January, added a US derivatives sales lead in March, and in April disclosed nine more hires across partnerships, sales, revenue operations, finance and engineering.

Chiappinelli now sits above much of that commercial structure.

Data Vendors Race to Add Senior Sales Talent

Humphrey tied the new hire to rising demand from clients building artificial intelligence tools, an argument BMLL has leaned on repeatedly through its recent product launches.

“I am delighted to welcome Mike to the team,” Humphrey said. “His appointment is a crucial step in our global expansion following the acquisition from Nordic Capital.” He added that “AI continues to fuel unprecedented institutional demand for the highest quality content.”

The appointment lands in a market for granular historical data that has grown more crowded, pitting specialist vendors like BMLL against far larger incumbents and exchange groups that sell their own data products.

Competition for senior commercial talent has picked up alongside it.

In April, trading software firm Trading Technologies named Josh Monroe as chief revenue officer and created a chief strategy officer role for the first time, part of its own push deeper into data and analytics.

The same month, TP ICAP’s data arm, TraditionData, hired Shynna Lee from the London Stock Exchange Group to extend its sales reach.

Both moves point to the same playbook BMLL is now running, putting experienced revenue leaders in place to sell data into institutional desks.

In recent months the firm has plugged its records into Databricks, added SpiderRock’s US options analytics to its research environment, and opened a year-long pilot with Tradefeedr to stretch transaction cost analysis from FX into equities and futures.

Hiring a CRO to coordinate global sales is the commercial counterpart to that product expansion.

From Refinitiv to a Cambridge Spinout

Chiappinelli brings more than 25 years in institutional sales across market data, analytics, algorithmic trading technology and enterprise software, according to BMLL.

He most recently ran global sales and account management for the investors business at web analytics firm Similarweb, and before that was managing director and head of sales at alternative data company SESAMm.

Earlier in his career he held senior roles at financial information group Acuris, investment bank Cowen and Refinitiv, the data business now folded into LSEG.

The company said he has built sales teams at both private equity-backed growth firms and established data providers, the two worlds BMLL now straddles after the Nordic Capital deal.

“I am incredibly excited to join the firm at such a defining time,” Chiappinelli said. “BMLL has built an enviable reputation for delivering the industry’s highest quality historical data products, and there is a clear, growing appetite among institutional participants for this depth of insight.”

The Nordic Capital purchase followed a $21 million investment led by Optiver in October 2024. Before that, BMLL raised $26 million in Series B funding across 2022 and 2023, and roughly $36 million in earlier seed and Series A rounds, backed at various points by Nasdaq Ventures and FactSet.

This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.Executive MovesRead More

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