Directory · Data and analytics
Alternative data
54 products carry this category. Categories are tags, so several of these also appear elsewhere.
What is meant by Alternative data?
Data outside conventional market and fundamental sources used to inform an investment view: transaction and card panels, web and app activity, geolocation, satellite imagery, shipping and similar.
Who uses Alternative data?
Quantitative researchers and analysts.
What gets confused with Alternative data?
Market data. Alternative data is bought to generate a view, not to value a book, and carries compliance questions — material non-public information, personal data, terms of collection — that conventional feeds do not.
What should you ask a vendor about Alternative data?
Ask for the provenance and consent basis of the underlying collection, and history length. Short history cannot be back-tested meaningfully.
This definition is Buyside Fintech’s own editorial work, not a vendor’s. The products listed below carry the sources we read.
Alternative data products
54 PRODUCTS
Advan FIT (Foot Traffic Intelligence)Advan Research CorporationMobile-device location data joined to card transactions to measure store visits and estimate sales; also sold as SPENDVIEW, REVEAL and Patterns+.Alexandria TechnologyAlexandria TechnologyMachine-learning sentiment scores derived from financial news and text for investment professionals.AlkymiAlkymiUses language models to turn unstructured investment documents into standardised datasets, with editions for alternatives and private credit.AlphaSense PlatformAlphaSenseSearch and AI research platform (SuperAnalyst, Deep Research, Tegus expert insights) that absorbed Sentieo, the research management product many funds previously bought.ApptopiaApptopiaMobile app usage and engagement data sold to fundamental and quantitative investors as a consumer activity signal.Bloomberg Second MeasureBloombergConsumer transaction analytics on thousands of public and private brands, updated daily with over eight years of history, operated as Bloomberg Second Measure LLC.Canoe ConnectCanoe IntelligenceCollects documents from GP portals and inboxes and extracts data from capital calls, distribution notices and partner capital account statements for the LP side; incubated in 2013 and launched independently in 2017; part of Bloomberg since its acquisition of Canoe closed on 1 October 2026.Canoe IntelligenceCanoe IntelligenceCollects alternatives documents from GP portals and extracts fund and asset level data; Bloomberg completed its acquisition of Canoe on 1 October 2026.CohesionCohesionAI agents for equity fund analysts that monitor earnings, news and alternative datasets on covered companies and surface investment signals.Earnest AnalyticsConsumer EdgeCredit and debit card, consumer goods and web pricing datasets delivered through the Dash analytics platform; the Earnest site states it is now part of Consumer Edge.Coresignal Datasets and APIsCoresignalPublic web data on companies, employees and job postings, used by investors as a headcount and hiring signal.DaloopaDaloopaExtracts auditable KPI and financial history from filings and transcripts into models for hedge funds and long-only managers; the site describes it as a Series C company with over $100 million raised.GrataDatasitePrivate company search and deal sourcing platform for the middle market; Datasite announced its acquisition of Grata on 3 June 2025 and is merging it with Sourcescrub.SourcescrubDatasiteDeal origination platform covering 17 million companies with conference and event tracking plus CRM enrichment; Datasite announced its acquisition on 8 August 2025.Eagle Alpha PlatformEagle AlphaMarketplace and advisory layer that helps funds find and vet more than 2,500 alternative datasets, plus a compliance product called Surveyor.Exabel PlatformExabelNo-code platform for testing and combining pre-mapped alternative datasets against company fundamentals; the site states it was acquired by BattleFin Group in December 2024.ExtractAlpha DatasetsExtractAlphaQuantitative alpha datasets for equity investors; acquired the Estimize crowdsourced earnings-estimate business in 2021.Fable DataFable DataBank-sourced pan-European consumer transaction data across 62 merchant categories, mapped to more than 550 tickers.Facteus CubeFacteusUS consumer transaction panel drawn from bank and fintech partners, sold as Cube, Arbiter, Onyx (SKU-level) and Ultra (row-level) products.FinnhubFinnhubAPIs for real-time stock prices, company fundamentals, estimates, economic data and alternative data.HarmonicHarmonicStartup discovery and sourcing engine with 30 million company profiles, founder and talent-movement alerts, and an AI research agent called Scout.HFR IndicesHFRHedge fund performance indices, a hedge fund database and industry performance reports.Hudson LabsHudson LabsAI research tool for investment analysts covering company guidance, catalysts, accounting red flags and financial drivers.InvenInvenAI deal sourcing platform covering 28 million companies, aimed at building target lists including off-market companies for private equity and M&A teams.KadoaKadoaAI agents that build and maintain web-scraping pipelines for investment firms, positioned as the web data layer for finance.AmberdataKaikoCrypto and blockchain market, DeFi and derivatives data with analytics, risk and compliance tools; Amberdata's own site carries the news of its acquisition by Kaiko, so lists still showing it as independent are out of date.Kaiko Market DataKaikoDigital asset market data feeds, fair value pricing, indices and surveillance for institutions and regulators; the homepage announces that Kaiko has acquired Amberdata.KplerKplerReal-time data on trade flows across more than 40 commodities, power markets and maritime shipping.LinkUpLinkUpJob posting data from employers going back to 2007, used for company and investment research.LinqAlphaLinqAlphaMulti-agent AI research platform for hedge funds and asset managers; the company states $6.6M raised and founders from MIT and Goldman Sachs.M Science Data FeedsM ScienceMore than 500 structured data feeds covering roughly 1,400 companies, delivered by API, S3, Snowflake and Delta Share alongside written research.IDEAMaiden CenturyPlatform that consolidates alternative data sources and maps them to company KPIs for fundamental and quantitative investors.Nasdaq Data LinkNasdaqData marketplace distributing financial, economic and alternative datasets to analysts and quantitative teams.Neudata ScoutNeudataIndependent dataset scouting and evaluation service for institutional buyers, with a catalogue of over 7,000 datasets.Global Macro Sentiment IndicesPermutable AIConverts news, macroeconomic and geopolitical events into point-in-time sentiment signals for countries, commodities and FX, delivered by API, Excel and feed to hedge funds and asset managers.Placer.ai Location Analytics PlatformPlacer.aiFoot-traffic and visit data on retail, dining and commercial real estate locations, with a finance vertical aimed at investment returns and risk. The site dates the platform launch to 2018 but does not state a founding year.Planet Insights PlatformPlanet Labs PBCDaily high-frequency satellite imagery (PlanetScope, SkySat) and analytic feeds, with a named finance vertical for market monitoring.Preqin ProPreqinData on private capital funds, their managers, investors and deals, used to raise capital, screen managers and benchmark performance across alternative asset classes.Bigdata.comRavenPackNews, filings and business-content analytics for finance, now positioned as an AI grounding layer; the site is branded Bigdata.com by RavenPack.Revelio LabsRevelio LabsWorkforce data on companies covering hiring, attrition, skills, workforce composition and talent flows.ESGSignalsRS MetricsAsset-level satellite and geospatial metrics, including parking-lot traffic across 65,000 US retail sites, metals production and EV output.SerafisSerafisIndexes transcripts of podcasts, interviews and independent media by company and theme, and delivers them through search, a REST API, an MCP server for AI agents and Snowflake or BigQuery integrations.SESAMmSESAMmMonitors ESG controversies and reputational risk on public and private companies by applying language models to news and web text.sievesieveExtracts data from websites, PDFs and filings using AI, has human reviewers check it, and returns it through an API or into a spreadsheet.Stock IntelligenceSimilarwebWebsite, app and user-engagement trend data on public and private companies, sold to investors as a digital demand signal; Similarweb trades on the NYSE as SMWB.SoriaSoriaA sector-specialist research terminal, starting with healthcare, whose agents build and maintain financial models from public and private sources and deliver them to hedge funds, banks and asset managers through a terminal, an API and an MCP server.SpecterSpecterSearchable data on startups, people, funding rounds and M&A events for deal sourcing and market sizing.State Street PriceStats SupersetState StreetThe daily item-level price data underlying State Street's PriceStats inflation indices, sold so investors can trace inflation from individual products up to headline measures ahead of official statistics.Thinknum Alternative DataThinknumWeb-scraped company datasets covering job listings, store locations, product and property pricing, inventory and app engagement.Third BridgeThird BridgeExpert calls, surveys and a library of expert interview transcripts for investors, also delivered as data feeds and through an MCP server.TracxnTracxnPrivate company and sector tracking data for venture capital, private equity and corporate development teams.VortexaVortexaEnergy market data built from cargo and vessel tracking, used by energy traders to follow oil and gas flows.With IntelligenceWith IntelligenceData and research on alternative investment funds and allocators, used for capital raising and manager selection.YipitData Market IntelligenceYipitDataCombines card transactions, email receipts, web-scraped and app-usage data into company and sector revenue estimates for investors.