LIQUIDNET EXPANDS ITS AI-BASED TRADE AND INVESTMENT ANALYTICS WITH ACQUISITION OF NLP LEADER PRATTLE
Powerful solution for asset managers to discover actionable insight from unstructured data
NEW YORK, June 5, 2019 – Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, continues its expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) investment analytics platform with the acquisition of Prattle, a leading provider of automated investment research solutions for portfolio managers, research analysts, and other financial professionals.
Prattle developed a proprietary Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) system to produce analytics that measure sentiment and predict the market impact of publicly available content including central bank and corporate communications (such as company earnings calls and press releases). Asset managers can use these analytics to: understand and anticipate relevant market movement, strengthen investment theses, and inform trading strategies.
The announcement follows Liquidnet’s recent acquisition of RSRCHXchange, a marketplace and aggregator for asset managers to consume, discover, and purchase investment research, and the 2017 acquisition of OTAS Technologies.
With Prattle’s NLP and data science technology, OTAS’s AI-driven analytics, and RSRCHXchange’s technology enhanced distribution platform, Liquidnet’s global network of asset managers will have access to a set of powerful investment analytics leveraging AI methodologies across both structured and unstructured data. These tools can revolutionize the way fund managers source, access, evaluate, and act on market information and insight to strengthen investment decisions and help generate alpha.
“Prattle is yet another powerful tool for asset managers to discover actionable insight from the enormous amounts of unstructured data that is produced throughout the capital markets,” said Brian Conroy, President of Liquidnet. “This acquisition further supports our goal to help our Members generate better performance by providing them with the data they need to create greater conviction in their investment ideas, and then execute those ideas with speed and efficiency.”
Launched in 2014 by former academics Evan Schnidman and Bill MacMillan, Prattle currently provides predictive analytics on approximately 3,000 publicly traded companies and 15 central banks. Prattle has the ability to build and maintain a unique lexicon for any publicly traded company and central bank, allowing for a searchable repository of corporate and central bank communications.
“Our proprietary NLP and data science technology are an ideal complement to Liquidnet’s AI-driven analytics platform, and we’re eager to be part of its growing Global Investment Network,” said Evan Schnidman, CEO of Prattle. “We’re looking forward to working closely with Liquidnet to develop an integrated solution.”
Schnidman and MacMillan will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of Prattle, reporting directly to Liquidnet President, Brian Conroy.
Polsinelli PC served as legal advisor for Prattle, SenaHill Partners served as financial advisor.