S&P Global announces strategic relationship and investment in Kensho

S&P Global, a leading provider of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics and data to the capital and commodity markets, announces that it has entered into a strategic relationship with Kensho Technologies, Inc. (Kensho), a provider of next-generation analytics, machine learning, and data visualization systems to Wall Street’s premier global banks and investment institutions. SPGI was also an investor in Kensho’s recently closed round of Series B financing.

The two parties have agreed to a long-term commercial relationship which will result in product and data collaboration between Kensho and S&P Global’s Market Intelligence division, a leader in multi-asset class research data and insights.

Founded out of Harvard University in 2013, named as one of the ‘5 Hottest Companies in FinTech’ by Fortune in 2016, Kensho’s machine learning systems crawl vast amounts of data that move markets to analyze correlations between world events and their impact on financial assets. Kensho also develops user-friendly analytics platforms and tools, next-generation data visualization environments, and big data-based leading indicators of macroeconomic trends. One of Kensho’s core strategic assets is the Kensho Global Event Database & Knowledge Graph—a private sector program to construct a comprehensive, living graph model of world events. Kensho’s systems are used across Wall Street’s premier global banks and investment institutions.

Through this strategic relationship, S&P Global Market Intelligence data will feed Kensho analytics platforms and serve as a basis for existing and new Kensho analytical tools. Both parties will collaborate on future product development to bring new and innovative capabilities to market. Additionally, S&P Global will have a board observer seat at Kensho.

“Kensho’s analytical capabilities and investment platforms and insights are increasingly recognized as innovative, intuitive and cutting edge. As we continue to evolve and develop our services for the investment community, this close relationship with Kensho will bolster our capabilities in data visualization and machine learning, delivering value, efficiency and automation to our clients,” remarked Mike Chinn, S&P Global Market Intelligence President.

Daniel Nadler, founder and CEO of Kensho, added, “The relationship with S&P Global is an excellent strategic fit, and it will deliver new innovations and joint developments to the market. The coming era will be looked back upon as the ‘AI era,’ when AI became the defining competitive advantage for corporations, government agencies, and investment professionals alike. Increasing computational speed, larger-scale machine-based pattern recognition, and cognitive augmentation have been key drivers in the evolution of investment analysis, and the combination of S&P Global Market Intelligence’s high quality data and commercial reach with Kensho’s advanced machine learning capabilities will serve to position both companies for future growth and success.”