Over the last decades, there has been a constant trend in equities trading towards lower transaction costs, increased transparency, fractionalization which have made the markets cheaper and more accessible for everyone. This is only beginning to happen in bond markets where the majority of trading still takes place over the counter.

One startup, Moment, is taking on the challenge as it’s raising $17 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz. It’s expected to be a major opportunity especially as interest in trading bonds has increased amid the spike in rates since last year. 

Currently, the major electronic venues for trading bonds are MarketAxess and Tradeweb. Moment’s API seeks to pull data from all these fragmented markets and liquidity pools and provides execution services in addition to analytics and portfolio management tools. The company plans to cover all types of fixed income investments including municipal bonds, Treasuries, and corporate debt. 

The company believes it will be able to be the premier platform for retail investors when it comes to fixed income trading. It sees upside opportunity in that only 3% of US households own individual bonds, while 23% of households own individual equities. 

Finsum: Interest and activity in fixed income has soared along with rates. Moment, a startup backed by Andreesen Horowitz, is looking to build a platform for retail trading of bonds.