Welcome to our newest interview series introducing the most innovative entrepreneurs and start-ups breaking the mold within the Data Management space. Have you heard of Canoe Intelligence yet? First launched in 2018, this adventurous enterprise applies sophisticated machine-learning and artificial intelligence techniques to reduce the burden of manual investment data management by transforming unstructured reporting data into actionable intelligence. Claiming to be the the first technology in the world to transform large volumes of unstructured alternative investment reporting documents into normalized datasets for institutional investors, allocators and asset servicing firms, the team has big ambitions – with its latest fundraising round attracting the likes of Nasdaq Ventures, Hamilton Lane, and Promus Capital. We sat down with CEO Seth Brotman, a flamboyant Floridian formerly with buy-side financial technology analytics company Novus Partners, to learn more.
What was behind your decision to found Canoe. What need are you filling in the market?
Prior to founding Canoe, our senior team worked in the alternatives space where we experienced the acute need to streamline the investment document management and data extraction processes. This was a major challenge I faced over the years as an allocator to hedge funds, private equity funds and real estate. When I realized the potency technology has to streamline these processes, it was an easy decision to establish this business, to build the technology and to start making it available to eliminate these pain points for institutional investors, asset allocators and asset servicing firms.
How important is the processing of unstructured data, and what benefit can it bring to financial services firms?
The ability to process unstructured data is vital because these datasets are the building blocks for all of the services financial firms offer to their clients. If you can’t properly track and account for your investments, you can’t properly manage risk, and it’s incredibly difficult to do investment due diligence without easier access to data. Canoe is bringing innovation to the alternative investment segment of financial markets by automatically transforming PDF documents into knowledge and eliminating manual data entry while unlocking new operational efficiencies.
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