The Alternative Data Podcast

In this episode I speak to Tim Lind of the Depository Trust Clearing Corporation, or DTCC. In our conversation Tim and I discuss the DTCC’s key role in the market, the length and breadth of its data offering, and the various phases of development seen in the capital markets. On another note, it was a pleasure to see so many former and future podcast guests at Eagle Alpha last week, and at our impr...

In this episode I speak to Ajit Desai of the Bank of Canada – Canada’s central bank. In our conversation, Ajit and I discuss how the Bank of Canada is using payments data in innovative ways to make macro predictions, and the outlook for central banks using alternative data. In other news, I hope you can join me at Eagle Alpha’s Unbound event in New York on April 6th, where I will be co-hosting the...

In this episode I speak to Scott Rosen and Ihsan Saracgil of Visible Alpha. Visible Alpha is a data provider that offers not just consensus estimates, but also the underlying models that show the working as to how the analysts arrived at those estimates. In other news, I hope you can join me at Eagle Alpha’s Unbound event in New York on April 6th, where I will be co-hosting the Hackathon. A breakd...

In this episode I speak to Yves Lemperiere of Capital Fund Management, a Paris-based hedge fund. In our conversation, Yves and I discuss the relationship between physics and quant investing, why Paris is such a hot spot for hedge funds these days and CFM’s evolving usage of data. In other news, I will be co-hosting the Hackathon at Eagle Alpha’s New York event on April 6th, I hope to meet many lis...

In this episode I speak to Toby Dayton of LinkUp, the provider of job listing data. In our conversation, Toby and I talk from the roots of LinkUp as a job board itself, through compiling a monthly non-farm payrolls estimate which was swiftly relied upon in the financial markets, to being an established alternative data provider in the present day.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m...

In this episode I speak to Niall Hurley of Eagle Alpha. Eagle Alpha, an alternative data aggregator, is one of the more established names involved in alternative data having first started in 2012, and Niall took over as CEO last year. In our conversation, Niall and I explore the whole alternative data market together, along with Eagle Alpha’s place within it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

In this episode I speak to Daniel Sheyner of Chimera Capital. After a career focusing on the consumer sector from various viewpoints, Daniel in 2017 decided to start a consumer-focused hedge fund that would take advantage of the increasing availability of alternative data. Five years later Chimera is established and thriving, and looking to grow into the gaming and lodging sectors.  Hosted on...

In this episode I speak to Robbert-Jan 't Hoen of Robeco. Robbert-Jan is a Quantitative Researcher in the Fixed Income space for Robeco, and in our conversation we discussed the implications of how alternative data can be used to trade corporate bonds.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I speak to Florin Tufan of Soleadify, a provider of alternative data around private companies. In our conversation, Florin and I explore the use cases, clientele and functionality of how Soleadify works, along with the burgeoning tech scene growing up in Bucharest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I speak to Dan Joldzic of Alexandria Technology. Alexandria was one of the earlier alternative data providers on the scene, and in our conversation Dan discuss the early challenges of explaining NLP data to an unprepared market, and how the alternative data scene has developed in the subsequent decade and a half. Meanwhile, it’s about time I gave a plug to John Farrell’s excellent...

In this episode I speak to Carson Boneck, Chief Data Officer of Balyasny Asset Management. In our conversation, Carson and I discuss the challenges of building out a data function at a multi strategy hedge fund like Balyasny Asset Management. In other news, please join me at Eagle Alpha’s virtual Insight 2.0 event on February 2nd, where I will be hosting an interactive discussion around the Intern...

In this episode I speak to Herb Blank, all-round alternative data figure of interest. Along with being one of the first investors to use an ETF, Herb boasts extensive experience in alternative data since its very earliest beginnings, and has a particular interest in ESG. We discuss all manner of topics in our conversation. In other news, please join me at Eagle Alpha’s virtual Insight 2.0 event on...

In this episode I speak to Ross Fabricant of CenterBook Partners a new investment fund that transforms discretionary insights into systematic strategies. CenterBook is a fund that maximizes the benefit of having a privileged knowledge of a vast number of hedge funds’ investment positions, which it uses to build systematic portfolios adding in its own proprietary technology. In other news, please j...

In this episode I speak to Sean Austin and Gerwin Schalk, the CEO and Chief Science Officer of Helios Life, a company on the cutting edge of alternative data types. Helios takes natural language processing a step further by analysing not just the words spoken in, for example, earnings calls, but actually delving into the tone and cadence of the speaker. This technology attempts to reveal what the...

In this episode I speak to Aron Cooper, Head of MidFrequency Alpha at Maven Securities. In our conversation, Aron and I discuss what drove him out of NASA and into quantitative finance, the quant quake, how much alternative datasets are worth and whether data reliability is the key issue, and what he means by ‘market-leading’. On a more topical note, wishing all my listeners a very happy and prosp...

Season's Greetings! In this episode I speak to Masashi Tsujinaka, CEO at Nowcast, the pre-eminent alternative data provider in Japan. In our conversation, Masashi and I explore the alternative data scene in Japan: the types of data that are available, the types of customers looking to get hold of it, and value that can be extracted from it.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

In this episode I speak to Vera Shulgina of SigTech, a software platform for quantitative investors. Vera has recently joined SigTech having previously enjoyed a successful career on the operations side of hedge funds including Two Sigma and Citadel. In our conversation, Vera and I talk about the recent trend of buysiders moving across into product companies, SigTech’s offering, and some of the ch...

In this episode I speak to Joe Hung, an analyst who has enjoyed an active career in alternative data at funds including Point 72. In our conversation, Joe and I talk about the way alternative data usage has gone below the top line and is increasingly enabling a deeper analysis of a company’s past, present and future. In other news, join us on zoom this Wednesday at 3pm London time for an interacti...

In this episode I speak to Vivek Viswanathan of Rayliant Global Advisors, a US quantitative fund that focuses on the Chinese markets. In our conversation, Vivek and I explore the shape of the Chinese investment scene, and discuss the relative penetration of alternative data and its likely future in China. In other news, join me and other guests this Wednesday 8th December at the delayed Leading Po...

In this episode I speak to Jason Hills, former Chief Revenue Officer of Facteus, an alternative data provider that sells synthetic data. In our conversation Jason and I explore his journey into synthetic data, and his next plans. In other news, join me and other guests on Wednesday 8th December at the delayed Leading Point event where we will be discussing “Is Alternative Data Still Alternative?”....

In this episode I speak to Fabiana Clemente, Founder and Chief Data Officer of YData https://ydata.ai/ - the first data platform with synthetic data generation. In our conversation, Fabiana and I talk through a full introduction to synthetic data. In other news, join me and other guests on Wednesday 8th December at the delayed Leading Point event where we will be discussing “Is Alternative Da...

In this episode I speak to Seth Leonard, winner of the hackathon at the most recent Eagle Alpha conference. In our conversation Seth and I talk through exactly how he won, combining multiple alternative datasets to forecast the next inflation figure. As a mild warning, this is more technical than other episodes. In other news, I will be speaking at the HFM European Quant Summit on Wednesday 17th N...

In this episode I speak to Bradley Saacks, Hedge Fund Reporter at Business Insider. In our conversation, Bradley and I talk about the effect the GameStop story had on the hedge fund industry, the past present and future of alternative data, and how it feels to be a buyer at an alt data conference. Separately, I will be speaking at the HFM European Quant Summit on Wednesday 17th November alongside...

In this episode I speak to Vinesh Jha, CEO and Founder of ExtractAlpha, a provider of curated alpha signals and alternative datasets to investors. In other news, I will be speaking at the HFM European Quant Summit on Wednesday 17th November alongside Rani Piputri of NNIP, where we’ll be discussing ‘Acquiring and Combining Alternative Datasets’ - https://www.hfmeuquantsummit.com/agenda Hosted...

In this episode I spoke to Michael Watson, founder of Chained Metrics ( https://chainedmetrics.com , discord channel: https://discord.gg/pXs9bJpE ) and former Managing Director in Equities Engineering at Citadel. In our conversation, Michael and I talk about the engineering challenges faced by a major hedge fund trying to remain competitive with alternative data, before then going on to explo...