750 ms
Average bid response time during peak global traffic.
Auction platform processes 6K Bids/sec with unified engine
Delivering fast & reliable bidding with serverless microservices on Azure
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6000+
Concurrent API calls processed every second without degradation
3600+
Auction houses supported by a single, rule-driven platform
Client overview
A global auction marketplace operator runs seven platforms that connect bidders with auctioneers across industrial, commercial, and art. The marketplaces make it easy to discover, bid, and win in real time while maintaining transparency.
Headquartered in London, the company supports 3,600+ auction houses and reaches bidders in 160 countries. It facilitates billions in annual transactions and continues to expand through strategic acquisitions.
Challenges
A legacy bidding engine lacked the modularity and scalability to support a multi-brand, multi-region growth strategy built on acquisitions.
Architectural limits under peak load
High-performance expectations demanding sub-second responses during peak traffic exposed the structural limitations of the existing bidding systems.
Limited modularity across acquisitions
The legacy engine lacked the flexibility to adapt across multiple acquired platforms and auction formats, creating friction with every new brand integration.
No framework for resilience
The business lacked a clear approach to delivering fault tolerance, observability, and rapid adaptability without escalating cloud infrastructure costs.
Solution
We re-architected the core bidding engine using a serverless, microservices-based design on Azure, enabling seamless scalability across all seven auction marketplaces.
Serverless, domain-driven architecture
Re-architected the bidding engine into domain-driven modules using a serverless microservices design, enabling independent scaling and seamless reuse across acquired platforms.
High-availability Azure infrastructure
Designed a multiregion Azure deployment with event-driven logging and proactive monitoring, ensuring performance and resilience without unnecessary cost overhead.
Automated testing and deployment pipeline
Implemented structured test automation and CI/CD-friendly deployment units, enabling rapid iteration and safe scaling with every release.
Co-engineering partnership
Delivered through Simform’s co-engineering model: a dedicated team working closely with the client’s product and engineering leaders, building deep context over speed.
Business impact
The new engine enables faster auctions, lean operations, and steady growth, protecting core revenue, key compliance, and bidder trust worldwide.
Modular, reusable platform
A single modular engine now powers all seven marketplaces, with an architecture designed to absorb future acquisitions without re-engineering.
Sub-second auction performance
The bidding engine delivers response times under 750ms at 6,000+ concurrent API calls per second, safeguarding revenue and bidder confidence during peak events.
Accelerated time-to-market
The production-ready platform was delivered on an accelerated timeline, giving the client a scalable foundation for rapid iteration across product streams without re-architecting.
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Hiren Dhaduk
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