DataBento
Databento, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, was founded in 2019 by Christina Qi and a team of engineers to address the high cost and complexity of accessing institutional-grade financial market data.
Profile
Databento provides a developer-friendly platform for accessing real-time and historical financial market data from global exchanges through APIs and a no-code browser interface, with usage-based pricing.
Databento, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, was founded in 2019 by Christina Qi and a team of engineers to address the high cost and complexity of accessing institutional-grade financial market data. The company provides a developer-first platform that delivers real-time and historical data from over 45 exchanges via APIs and a no-code browser interface, with servers colocated at trading venues for low-latency capture. By October 2024, Databento had raised a total of $30 million in Series A funding, including a $10 million close that added strategic investors such as Belvedere Trading, Clear Street, and Lightscape Partners.
The company reported a 985% surge in revenue for the year and over 7,000 new customers, bringing its total customer base to more than 20,000 organizations, including global broker-dealers, quantitative hedge funds, and AI-driven trading firms. Databento's platform processes over 200 billion market updates daily, with peak throughput exceeding 80 Gbps, and it has achieved median response times under 60 microseconds for U.S. options data using NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet switches and ConnectX SuperNICs. The company is positioning itself as a key player in the upcoming SEC-mandated transition from exclusive U.S. equity SIPs to a competing consolidator framework.
Recent product expansions include coverage of the Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) and Blue Ocean ATS, as well as a new corporate actions data API covering 215 venues and 310,000+ instruments. Databento's usage-based pricing model, which allows customers to pay only for the data they consume, has been a differentiator in a market traditionally dominated by expensive, bundled subscriptions. The company's rapid growth and adoption by major financial institutions underscore its emergence as a significant alternative to legacy market data providers.
Who buys this
- Quantitative hedge funds and proprietary trading firms
- Global broker-dealers and investment banks
- AI-driven trading and machine learning companies
- Asset management firms and financial institutions
Publicly disclosed clients
- Belvedere Trading
- Clear Street
- Lightscape Partners
Strengths and what to watch
Strengths
- Achieved median response times under 60 microseconds for U.S. options data, using NVIDIA networking hardware, reducing the need for expensive on-site setups.
- Usage-based pricing model allows customers to pay only for data they consume, lowering barriers for smaller firms and startups.
- Covers over 45 exchanges with servers colocated at trading venues, providing low-latency, high-fidelity data capture directly from the source.
Watch for
- Revenue growth of 985% in 2024 may not be sustainable as the company matures and faces competition from established providers like Bloomberg and Refinitiv.
- Dependence on NVIDIA networking infrastructure for low-latency performance creates vendor lock-in risk if hardware costs rise or supply chains are disrupted.
- The SEC's shift to a competing consolidator framework for U.S. equity SIPs is still pending; regulatory delays or changes could impact Databento's strategic positioning.
Recent moves
- 4mo ago Updates to subscription pricing
- 6mo ago Introducing Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE)
- 6mo ago Blue Ocean ATS now available
Key Information
- Industry
- Financial & Market Data
- Founded
- 2019
- Headquarters
- Salt Lake City, Utah
Sources
- databento.com — Funding round details, revenue growth of 985%, customer count of 7,000 new customers, and strategic investors.
- resources.nvidia.com — Customer story detailing latency performance, use of NVIDIA networking, and processing of 200 billion market updates daily.
- databento.com — Product details on corporate actions data API, coverage of 215 venues and 310,000+ instruments.
- databento.com — Recent news on subscription pricing updates as of May 29, 2026.