We recognized the need for investment firms and individuals to incorporate news, the ultimate big data source, into their entire trading or investing process.
Remember back in June when the UK voted to exit the European Union? If the news surrounding Brexit was to be believed, it was the end of days. Fire, brimstone, etc. The terrified world braced for financial crisis. Well, everyone on in the world except the Relate The News team. The Relate The News proprietary metrics determined that the market would bounce back three days after the Brexit. And the markets did just that. So those who were privy to Relate The News insights recognized Brexit as a buying opportunity.
“We transform unstructured data into actionable insights for the capital markets,” says Relate The News CEO Tim Decker. The company began analyzing data in 2014 to build a repository from which to make quantitative, sentiment-based trading decisions. “We recognized the need for investment firms and individuals to incorporate news, the ultimate big data source, into their entire trading or investing process,” Decker says. Decker recognized that need while working at a small trading firm years ago. “Individuals then and now were clammering to make news workable,” Decker says. Later in 2013, Decker realized the time was right to turn that need into a platform. While their initial focus was retail investors, Relate The News found that hedge funds need their data every day. “We have seen great progress with global hedge funds using our data to generate alpha for their firms,” Decker says.
Relate The News is the flagship brand of Interconnect Analytics, which is soon to delve into the sports analysis industry (think insights for fantasy footballers). “Through the end of this year we are focused on continued growth with hedge funds, news providers and individual investors along with our soon to be announced foray into sports analysis.”
Decker says that the goal of the company is to become the leading provider of big data text insights and the Utah workforce will play a big role in realizing that goal. “As we continue to grow our business in the financial markets, into sports and beyond, we look forward to growing our team with talented individuals from the analytics space and more — leveraging the talent that is inherent here in the Salt Lake Valley,” Decker says. “We look forward to being another success story like Novell or Qualtrics and many more in the Salt Lake/Utah Valleys. And in that success helping other entrepreneurs, individuals and businesses grow and succeed in all their endeavors.” In other words, Decker plans to pay it forward. He raves about about the support of the startup community as well as the talent. “The move to Salt Lake City in mid-2015 was a considered process. We were seeking a location with a diverse, high-tech and talented work force, a presence of financial companies, access to a great work life balance and great startup culture,” Decker says. He says that once the company moved here, he was surprised to find a strong big data and analytics crowd in the area. “The benefits of being on the Silicon Slopes with all that Salt Lake City area has to offer have been recognized in our business.”
