Cicada, an e-commerce platform regulated by the United States, closed a US$13.5 million Series A round led by Citi to modernize the trading of bonds in local currency in Latin America. The financing included the participation of B3 (Brazilian Stock Exchange) through its venture capital subsidiary L4, in addition to Kaszek, Dila and Crestone.
The round includes a parallel strategic capital program designed to secure liquidity through committed market makers, attracting major Wall Street institutions as initial participants. Co-founded by Ignacio Tovar and Javier Hernández, Cicada operates an SEC-registered alternative trading system (ATS) that connects global buying and selling institutions across borders.
Local currency bond markets in Latin America remain predominantly voice. Cicada is bringing efficiency to Mexico’s US$500 billion fixed income market, where more than 98% of daily transactions of between US$5 billion and US$7 billion are not carried out electronically.
The problem of non-digitized markets
Latin America’s local currency bond markets operate primarily through voice trading, with traders calling on the phone to execute trades rather than using electronic platforms. This method generates inefficiencies, lack of transparency in prices and high transaction costs compared to developed markets.
Cicada introduced one of the first central limit order books (CLOB) for Mexican local currency bonds. Along with proprietary spread trading functionalities and the Double Down execution protocol, the platform enables more sophisticated execution strategies for institutional participants.
“We have created the first truly global and totally universal electronic market for the secondary trading of Mexican bonds in local currency, bringing institutional-level capabilities to a market that has needed them for a long time,” stated Javier Hernández, co-CEO of Cicada.
Expansion plans beyond Mexico
The new capital will be used to expand business initiatives, drive liquidity, add new products and geographies, and deepen integration with global third-party platforms. Cicada plans to develop an execution center for electronic interest rate swaps, initially focused on the Mexican TIIE, a market with average daily volume of approximately US$24 billion.
The strategy to expand into other Latin American markets follows the same model: identify large markets where voice trading continues to dominate, build relationships with local regulators and market makers, and replicate the technological infrastructure proven in Mexico. Cicada Securities is a US brokerage firm registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA, operating under global institutional participant standards.
