Today, Bats Chi-X Europe, the pan-European trading platform, becomes a fully fledged stock exchange, the first of Europe’s new breed of alternative trading platforms to achieve that prestigious distinction.

The company has come a long way since 2007, when it began life in the cafes of Moorgate as little more than a spreadsheet on the laptop of co-founder, and now chief executive, Mark Hemsley. At the time, Kansas-based exchange operator Bats Global Markets was looking to replicate its US success in Europe following the opening up of the region's secondary cash equities markets by the 2007 Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. With a little bit of hustling from the head of sales, Alex Dalley, combined with the operational know-how of former chief operating officer Paul O'Donnell, Hemsley oversaw the launch of Bats Europe in October 2008.