Company:Smartkarma
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | (September 2014) |
| Founder | Jon Foster, Raghav Kapoor, Lee Mitchell |
| Headquarters | Singapore |
Area served | Worldwide |
Number of employees |
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| Website | www |
55 (2016)Smartkarma is a FinTech company servicing the global asset management industry. It owns and operates a digital marketplace that provides investment insight into Asian markets. Smartkarma is currently the world’s only investment research provider to offer a streaming service.[1]
Launched in 2014, Smartkarma is Asia’s largest independent marketplace for investment research.[2] As of September 2016, the company had over 70 contributing firms, 400 individual insight providers and over 140 institutions active on its platform.[2]
History
The company was co-founded by Singapore-based financiers, Raghav Kapoor, Jon Foster and Lee Mitchell in 2014.[1] The company's founders worked together at Aviate Global (Asia) prior to its acquisition by Religare Capital Markets in 2010.[3]
The idea for Smartkarma was reportedly conceived in the attic of Co-Founder, Raghav Kapoor. During the first three months of operations, the founders injected sufficient personal capital to cover all costs for the first year of operations.[3]
Smartkarma’s platform officially launched from closed beta in April 2016.[4]
The company successfully closed its second round of funding in June 2016 at $4.7 million USD, led by Koh Boon Hwee, former Chairman of Singapore Telecommunications.[5], and one of Smartkarma's first Seed Stage investors - Tan Chin Hwee[6][7], who also helped involve Sequoia Capital in this round of funding. The second round of funding brought the total capital raised by the company to $7.5 million USD, and was used to assist Smartkarma's overseas expansion.[8][9]
Current Smartkarma investors include Wavemaker Partners, Jungle Ventures, an arm of the Singapore government, and an investment group led by Koh Boon Hwee, as well as several prominent industry leaders such as Tan Chin Hwee.
In November 2017, the company raised US$13 million, bringing Smartkarma's total funding to US$21 million.[10]
Product
Users access Smartkarma's platform by paying a yearly subscription fee. Smartkarma pays all of its contributing research analysts a monthly fee based on the reach and influence of their articles.[11]
Users can choose to use Smartkarma’s predictive search-and-sort feature which filters content published on the platform, creating customized reading lists for users based on their specific fields of interest.[2]
The company recently unveiled Boost Research, an accelerator-type initiative aimed at helping independent research providers set up their own business. Boost Research offers independent analysts office space, financial support, regulatory coverage, and access to data from Smartkarma and partners like Capital IQ.[12]
Awards
Smartkarma won the Best New Technology Product 2016 for Trading and Execution by Futures and Options World on September 22, 2016.[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 yoolimleenews, Yoolim Lee (2016-06-01). "Smartkarma, the Spotify of Asian Research, Raises $4.7 Million". Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-01/smartkarma-the-spotify-of-asian-research-raises-4-7-million.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Smartkarma launches collaborative marketplace to change investment research and analysis". 2016-04-12. http://www.institutionalassetmanager.co.uk/2016/04/12/238382/smartkarma-launches-collaborative-marketplace-change-investment-research-and-analy.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Asian-based Distribution Platform Smartkarma Goes Live • Integrity Research" (in en-US). http://www.integrity-research.com/asian-based-distribution-platform-smartkarma-goes-live/.
- ↑ "Smartkarma Launches Investment Research ‘Collaboration Marketplace'". http://www.waterstechnology.com/inside-market-data/news/2454292/smartkarma-launches-investment-research-collaboration-marketplace.
- ↑ "Smartkarma Completes Second Round of Funding for Research Marketplace". 2016-06-01. http://marketsmedia.com/smartkarma-completes-funding-research-marketplace/.
- ↑ "Invest intelligently with Smartkarma". 2016-06-01. http://www.asiaone.com/business/invest-intelligently-smartkarma.
- ↑ "Smartkarma Advisory Council". 2016-06-01. https://www.smartkarma.com/home/about?section=Advisors.
- ↑ "This startup wants to become the ‘Spotify’ for investment research". http://sbr.com.sg/markets-investing/exclusive/startup-wants-become-%E2%80%98spotify%E2%80%99-investment-research.
- ↑ hermes (2016-06-08). "Start Singapore: Financial research firm raises $6.4m to expand". http://www.straitstimes.com/business/start-singapore-financial-research-firm-raises-64m-to-expand.
- ↑ hermesauto (2017-11-06). "Smartkarma raises another US$13m in financing round for overseas expansion" (in en). The Straits Times. http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/smartkarma-raises-another-us13m-in-financing-round-for-overseas-expansion.
- ↑ "Here's how the 'Spotify for the investment research’ lets analysts make money from the beach". http://uk.businessinsider.com/interview-with-smartkarmas-jon-foster-2016-5.
- ↑ "Smartkarma Debuts Accelerator for Independent Research" (in en-US). 2018-05-23. https://www.waterstechnology.com/market-data-data-analytics/research-commentary/3657016/smartkarma-debuts-accelerator-for-independent-research/.
- ↑ "Futures & Options World". http://www.fow.com/Awards.
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