Text size

Quantifeed turns eyes to behavioural analytics after raising US$10 million from Cathay Financial Holdings, Legg Mason

Listen to article

Hong Kong-based B2B fintech firm, Quantifeed, has set itself an ambitious deadline for the rollout of its next generation of products, and has plans to expand its regional footprint after receiving a fresh injection of capital to the tune of US$10 million.

“This is growth capital,” Quantifeed’s chief executive and co-founder Alex Ypsilanti told Asian Private Banker on the eve of the firm’s announcement that it raised some US$6 million from Cathay Financial Holdings and US$4 million from Legg Mason Global Asset Management during its Series B funding round.

“We intend to deploy these funds to grow — in Singapore to better service our existing and new clients, as well as in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines,” he said.

Ypsilanti also pointed to Australia — where the firm already has developers, business development staff and a sales force on the ground — as a market where the firm wants to strengthen its presence.

Quantifeed will also use the capital to fuel its research and development activities in behaviour analytics and data science that will underpin the next generation of its services, which Ypsilanti said should hit the market in 2019.

The firm’s push into behavioural analytics and data science comes amidst rising demand for greater personalisation in wealth management services across a wider spectrum of consumers.

“We are big believers in what we call ‘wealthcare’, which is essentially about providing sound financial advice to everyone,” said Ypsilanti.

“For far too long, wealth management has been the purview of HNWIs and institutions that have fairly focused on this segment exclusively for economic reasons. But technology allows providers to target other segments with greater efficiency, and a greater degree of personalisation.”

Quantifeed’s automated investment platform, which includes a robo-advisory solution, is targeted at financial institutions that wish to provide digital wealth management services to advisors and clients. The firm’s client base includes Taiwan-based Cathay United Bank.

Ypsilanti said Quantifeed is also on the lookout for an institution to partner with in Mainland China in due course, and that the Series B capital raise “positions it well to go into the market when the time is right”.

Meanwhile, Quantifeed is also keeping a close eye on developments in the account aggregation space, although Ypsilanti believes that real momentum in the demand for aggregation services “is about a year off”.

“It’s a very powerful concept because it can help provide more holistic — and therefore more comprehensive — financial advice across all of a customer’s accounts. It is a big part of robo advice, so it is an area we are looking to evolve in. We are very much prepared to respond to the interest and demand for aggregation when it comes,” he said.

The capital raise follows a year of growth for Quantifeed, which managed to double its headcount and increase its banking clients from one to five. Ypsilanti said the banks Quantifeed is working with will expose its product to over 30 million consumers.

Quantifeed raised US$4.5 million during its Series A funding round in 2016. Shanghai-based PGA Venture Partners led the investments.

Have a confidential tip? Get in touch [email protected]

Related Tags

Company

Market