Nasdaq has acquired Quandl, a Toronto-based provider of alternative and core financial data. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2012, Quandl provides alternative data and core financial data from over 350 sources to more than 30,000 active monthly users, counting eight of the top 10 hedge funds and 14 of the top 15 largest banks among its clients.
The startup's global database of alternative, financial and public data includes information on capital markets, energy, shipping, healthcare, education, demography, economics and society.
The acquisition fits in with Nasdaq's recent efforts to reposition as a capital markets technology and analytics provider and comes at a time when the exchange is under pressure over market data fees. Late last year it paid $705 million to buy eVestment, a data, content and analytics platform for institutional investors, and has also moved to acquire trading tech vendor Cinnober.
The company sees Quandl as an attractive addition, citing a Deloitte estimate from last year which said spending on alternative data may exceed $7 billion by 2020, with an annual growth rate of 21%.
"Quandl will allow Nasdaq to partner more closely with the investing community as the industry continuously seeks ways to evaluate an endless supply of information to drive new insights, investment ideas and deliver alpha," says Bjorn Sibbern, head, global information services, Nasdaq.
Separately, Nasdaq Ventures has joined a $27.5 million funding round for cryptocurrency exchange ErisX. Fidelity Investments also joined the round in the new exchange, which plans to start offering trading in bitcoin, litecoin and ether on spot and futures markets next year, subject to regulatory approval.