What NovaSparks does

NovaSparks Inc. is a specialist provider of ultra-low latency market data infrastructure for electronic trading platforms, founded in 2007 and headquartered in New York with offices in Paris and Bangkok. The company's flagship offering, the NovaTick Ticker Plant, is built on a pure Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) architecture in which all real-time market data processing functions — decoding, parsing, order book building, normalization, consolidation, replication, and distribution — are executed in hardware, eliminating the memory, operating-system, and networking-stack bottlenecks inherent to CPU-based and hybrid implementations. NovaSparks reports 450ns average wire-to-wire latency for US equities, 507ns for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and 746ns for OPRA feed handling, with processing claimed to be 10-50x faster than software solutions during market peaks. The product is available as a 2U NovaTick Appliance with up to four large-capacity FPGAs, as a NovaTick PCIe Card for smaller deployments and custom development, and is complemented by the NovaLink hardware interface (50-400ns internal latency) for FPGA-to-FPGA integration into customer trading logic and a C++ Software API plus the NovaSparks Wire Format (NSWF) for software consumers. The platform covers 75-80 market feeds across equities, derivatives, options, and fixed income in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

The company serves elite capital markets businesses — including trading firms, hedge funds, and major banks — whose competitive edge depends on nanosecond-level, deterministic access to market data for market making, statistical arbitrage, and other latency-sensitive strategies. NovaSparks generates revenue through three streams: hardware sales (appliances and PCIe cards), recurring software/API licensing and support, and professional services for custom FPGA development where customers retain source code and IP. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated through direct enterprise sales. The company operates a small team (11-50 employees) and relies on direct enterprise sales, technical content marketing, and a partnership with Xilinx (now AMD) for FPGA tooling and ANTS-based TCP order execution.

On January 14, 2026, NovaSparks was acquired by Exegy, a global leader in high-performance market data and trading technology, becoming Exegy's third strategic acquisition following Vela Trading Systems and Enyx. Under Exegy ownership, NovaSparks clients gain access to global scale, 24/7 managed services, and follow-the-sun support infrastructure, while NovaSparks' FPGA feed-handler catalog becomes a core component of Exegy's broader electronic trading technology stack.

Name

NovaSparks

Legal name

NovaSparks Inc.

Website

https://novasparks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NovaSparks Inc. provides ultra-low latency FPGA-based market data ticker plants (NovaTick Appliance, PCIe Card, NovaLink, Software API) for elite trading firms, hedge funds, and banks. It normalizes 75-80 global market feeds into a single wire format, delivering nanosecond-level processing for algorithmic and high-frequency trading.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Hardware Appliances and PCIe Cards: Sale of NovaTick Appliance (2U server with multiple FPGAs) and NovaTick PCIe Cards for trading servers. Hardware platforms built on largest FPGAs combined with memory arrays.
2. Software Licenses and Support: Software API licensing and support services for consuming normalized market data. Includes advanced C++ API and NovaSparks Wire Format (NSWF) licensing.
3. Professional Services and Custom Development: Professional services engagement for custom FPGA trading projects. Customers can engage NovaSparks to develop trading strategies and risk checks while retaining source code and IP ownership.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

NovaSparks designs and sells ultra-low latency FPGA-based market data normalization and distribution products for electronic trading platforms. The core offering, NovaTick, is delivered as either a 2U NovaTick Appliance or a standalone NovaTick PCIe Card, both built on pure FPGA architecture that performs all real-time market data processing (decoding, parsing, book building, normalization, consolidation, replication, distribution) in hardware. The company complements hardware with the C++ Software API and NovaSparks Wire Format (NSWF) for software consumption, and offers custom FPGA development professional services.

Product overview

NovaSparks offers a unified product portfolio centered on the NovaTick Ticker Plant, available as either an Appliance or PCIe Card form factor. The core offering is a pure FPGA architecture solution for real-time market data normalization and distribution that processes market data 10-100x faster than software alternatives. The product family includes NovaLink Hardware Interface for FPGA-to-FPGA integration, the NovaSparks Software API (C++ based) for software consumption, and NovaSparks Wire Format (NSWF) for normalized data output. The platform supports 75-80 market feeds across global exchanges and asset classes, with deployment options for both hardware (FPGA) and software consumption models.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• NovaTick: NovaTick is NovaSparks' flagship ticker plant solution - a fully integrated ticker plant targeting demanding customers requiring speed and determinism for scalability and functionality. It normalizes market data feeds into a single wire format consumed by hardware (FPGAs) or software applications.
• NovaLink
• NovaTick Appliance
• NovaTick PCIe Card

Products and services

• NovaTick Appliance A 2U server appliance with up to 4 large capacity FPGAs and memory arrays that delivers the lowest possible latency for market data processing and accommodates large instrument sets. Offers 10x capacity improvement in number of instruments versus previous generations and supports 75 market feeds across geographies and asset classes. Designed for elite capital markets businesses including trading firms, hedge funds, and banks requiring nanosecond-level deterministic market data processing.
• NovaTick PCIe Card A standalone PCIe card that installs in any trading server, built on the same FPGA and memory architecture as the NovaTick Appliance. Supports the same market feeds and delivers similar performance with a smaller footprint and lower total cost of ownership. Serves as the preferred hardware platform for pure FPGA custom projects and tick-to-trade development.
• NovaTick Ticker Plant A fully integrated ticker plant solution that normalizes 75 market data feeds into a single wire format consumable by FPGAs or software applications. Performs all real-time market data processing functions (A/B Feed Arbitration, Wireless vs Fiber Arbitration, Decoding, Parsing, Order Management, Book Building, Normalization, Consolidation, Replication, and Distribution) in pure FPGA hardware. 10 times faster than traditional software ticker plants on average and up to 100 times faster during market data bursts.
• NovaLink Hardware Interface A hardware-based API IP core that enables banks and trading firms to leverage NovaSparks' catalog of feed handlers by extending NovaTick data processing directly inside customer trading FPGA logic. Offers a normalized interface common to all feeds with two options: External NovaLink (~700ns latency) and Internal NovaLink (50-400ns latency depending on publication levels).
• NovaSparks Software API and Wire Format (NSWF) A fully featured ultra-low latency C++ API and the NovaSparks Wire Format (NSWF) that allow banks and trading firms to consume normalized market data seamlessly across all markets, independently of geography or asset class. Software applications have access to decoded wire format data as well as top of book (L1), top N of book (L2), and full depth data (L3), plus reference data. Includes ready-to-use examples and configurable options optimized for low latency.
• Custom FPGA Development Professional Services Professional services for firms looking to develop FPGA-based market data processing projects or accelerate trading cycles on FPGAs for equity, futures, or options markets. Customers engage NovaSparks to develop trading strategies and risk checks while retaining source code and IP ownership of the deliverables. Compatible with Xilinx (AMD) ANTS for TCP Order Execution in tick-to-trade environments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2-5x faster processing on average, 10-50x faster during market peaks compared to best software solutions
• +5 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• ExegycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 January 2026Exegy, a global leader in high-performance market data and trading technology, acquired NovaSparks to strengthen its position as a leading FPGA solutions provider for electronic trading platforms. The acquisition marks Exegy's third following Vela Trading Systems and Enyx. NovaSparks clients now benefit from Exegy's global scale, 24/7 managed services, and follow-the-sun support infrastructure.
• Xilinx (now AMD)supportingTechnology or IntegrationNovaSparks leverages Xilinx (now AMD) FPGA technology and ANTS for TCP Order Execution in their open FPGA development platform, enabling tick-to-trade development environments. The platform can consume any of NovaSparks' 75+ market data feeds through a single hardware programming interface.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Exegy: Exegy is the parent company and a global provider of high-performance market data and trading technology, including FPGA-accelerated appliances. It is comparable as both the acquirer and an overlapping provider of low-latency market data infrastructure to the same elite capital markets customer base.
• Itiviti (Broadridge Trading and Connectivity Solutions): Itiviti, now part of Broadridge, provides low-latency trading infrastructure, connectivity, and market data normalization to banks, brokers, and trading firms globally. It is a broad incumbent in the same electronic trading infrastructure space where NovaSparks competes.
• Metamako (Arista Networks): Metamako, now part of Arista, built ultra-low-latency network switches and packet-capture devices used alongside FPGA trading platforms. It is a comparable low-latency infrastructure peer even though it sits upstream of the feed-handling layer.
• LSEG (Refinitiv): LSEG, through Refinitiv, provides market data infrastructure, feed handlers, and analytics to capital markets participants. It is a broad incumbent with overlapping feed handling and normalization capabilities serving many of the same institutional customers.

Direct peers

• Enyx: Enyx is a provider of FPGA-based low-latency market data and trading solutions, now also owned by Exegy. It is the most direct functional peer, offering FPGA feed handlers and tick-to-trade IP targeting the same banks, trading firms, and exchanges as NovaSparks.
• Vela Trading Systems: Vela provides high-performance trading infrastructure and market data feed handlers to electronic trading firms. Now an Exegy-owned sibling, it competes with NovaSparks in low-latency feed handling and is a directly comparable trading technology peer.

Emerging players

• Pico Technology (Corvil/MarketAxess): Pico (whose Corvil analytics arm was acquired by MarketAxess) provides low-latency market data and trading infrastructure, including FPGA-accelerated components. It is comparable to NovaSparks in targeting low-latency data capture and analytics for trading firms.
• Raptor/Exactpro: Exactpro (spun out from Raptor/Exactpro) provides software testing, market data infrastructure, and trading technology services to exchanges and trading firms. It is comparable as an emerging technology peer in low-latency market data and trading infrastructure.

Others

• AMD (Xilinx): AMD, via Xilinx, supplies the FPGAs that power NovaTick Appliances and PCIe Cards. It is comparable as the underlying silicon partner whose technology roadmap directly shapes NovaSparks' product capabilities and differentiation.
• Intel (Altera): Intel's Altera division provides competing FPGA silicon used in alternative low-latency trading platforms. It is comparable as the principal alternative FPGA vendor whose products underpin competing FPGA-based ticker plants and trading accelerators.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/novasparksfpga
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/novasparks

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NovaSparks