Acuity Trading, the UK news analytics company, announced today it has secured Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) financing to accelerate the company’s growth in to the retail financial market and fund development of its innovative sentiment-based products.
The funding initiative, led by The Jenson Seed EIS Fund, will be also be used to expand its reach in key retail markets, invest in sales and marketing resources, further develop its analytics capabilities and expand into new data types, including equities. “News and opinion has notoriously influenced the financial markets and in today’s information age investors have access to a paralysing volume of news from fragmented sources.
Investors no longer rely on the traditional news feeds but instead, are migrating towards open source material and social media”, commented Andrew Lane, Managing Director of Acuity Trading. “News analytics technology allows investors to harness this breadth of information, drawing out market consensus on a large scale to accompany more traditional, historical market data to help make more informed trading decisions.”
Founded by Andrew Lane, with the aim of helping companies integrate sentiment in to their products for greater customer experience and client retention, Acuity Trading is available online, via platform providers or API for more bespoke product offerings.
Designed to augment existing trading tools such as calendars, newsfeeds and charts or to promote new product ideas for clients, Acuity Trading is hoping to bring sentiment data to the forefront of the retail investment community. In conjunction with the funding, Acuity Trading announced the appointment of Jenson Solutions partner, David Adair to the board of directors.
A qualified chartered accountant, David worked for a number of years in the media industry with roles including those of CFO and COO for various Film and Television companies as well as a spell at HSBC Investment Bank as a Pan European Media Analyst. “Acuity Trading fits with our vision to help small to medium sized businesses achieve their potential”, said David Adair, Partner Jenson Solutions.
“Acuity Trading is at the forefront of the financial technology and is changing the way investors make decisions on their investment portfolios. We are excited to support Acuity’s management team as they progress with their product development and grow their business” concluded Mr. Adair.