Refinitiv invests in BattleFin
Refinitiv has agreed an undisclosed investment and strategic partnership with alternative data platform and marketplace BattleFin, reports Jane Connolly. 
The partnership will unlock new data set opportunities in response to customer demand, such as credit card transactions, geolocation, supply chain and web data.
BattleFin’s alternative data sets will be available in Refinitiv’s quantitative analytics platform QA Direct in the Cloud and integrated with the desktop Eikon from the end of 2019.
This will enable quants and fundamental analysts to access and test different alternative data sets alongside Refinitiv’s data offerings, such as I/B/E/S Estimates, WorldScope Fundamentals and StarMine quantitative models.
A sub-set of Refinitiv’s proprietary content will be available for testing in BattleFin’s alternative data marketplace Ensemble, which will also be integrated with Eikon.
“Demand for alternative datasets continues to rise across the industry as investors look for new ways to achieve alpha and gain an edge on the competition,” says Pradeep Menon, managing director, investing and advisory at Refinitiv.
Alternative datas ets within Ensemble’s platform will be mapped to Refinitiv’s entity and security identifiers, including PermID.
“The integration of BattleFin’s alternative data into Refinitiv’s platforms will save quants and portfolio managers time as they look to efficiently implement alternative data strategies into their investment workflows, creating a holistic data platform to serve the investment community.”
The partnership will build on Refinitiv’s current alternative data offering, which includes interactive mapping and commodities, news analytics and social media sentiment data.
