Fintech start-up AlphaSense is planning an IPO when the markets improve

• After raising $ 1.7 billion in new capital, AlphaSense believes an IPO is in the offing.
• In June, it raised $ 225 million from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Viking Global and BlackRock.
• While waiting for IPO market conditions to improve, AlphaSense is looking to grow in Asia.

After raising $ 225 million in June, market intelligence startup AlphaSense plans to go public when the market becomes more favorable, as it hopes to become “Google for Business”.

AlphaSense founder and CEO Jack Kokko told Insider that the company has laid the groundwork for a possible IPO, but is in no hurry since it has just raised capital and wants to wait for a more favorable market.

“I do not think anyone actively would be looking to go public right now if they did not have to, but it is something we have always seen as an inevitable result,” said Kokko. “We put all the preparations in place, and our CFO leads the responsibility in the background, so that we can pull the trigger when the market becomes favorable.”

He added that when AlphaSense is listed, the company can benefit from benefits such as greater visibility, access to capital for further growth and credibility.

AlphaSense is not alone in waiting for better market conditions as the number of private companies applying for listings has fallen drastically since last year’s seemingly endless parade of startups marching towards the public markets. Only 22 listings were completed in the first half of this year, compared to 183 in 2021 and 108 in 2020 during the same time frame, according to a recent report from PitchBook.

But for now, AlphaSense does not have to worry about cash. It raised $ 225 million in a Series D round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Viking Global, which included a debt investment from BlackRock. The funding doubled AlphaSense’s valuation to $ 1.7 billion.

The company uses natural language processing, artificial intelligence and machine learning to pick out relevant information from company registrations, income statements, expert interview statements, news, professional journals and stock surveys. AlphaSense’s 3,500 customers, which include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Bank of America and Barclays, have access to this information through the company’s platform.

Earlier this year, the financial intelligence platform acquired Sentieo. And last year, it acquired Stream by Mosaic, which provides expert interview transcripts. AlphaSense also entered into an agreement with Goldman Sachs to distribute the research to non-investors.

Kokko said that their acquisitions have been strategic, and although the company has not closed its doors to other potential acquisitions, it is not targeting any specific companies at the moment.

Absence of a stock exchange listing, Kokko said that one of the company’s expansion plans is to expand its footprint in Asia. However, he acknowledged the difficulty of obtaining local language data in the region. AlphaSense is now establishing an office in Singapore, in addition to its offices in London and Helsinki.

“We started in North America, then we expanded to Europe, then our customers started moving to Asia,” said Kokko. “We believe that Europe should be as big as the United States, and Asia should be as big as well, but it is more difficult as there are more languages ​​to cover and more sets of local markets you have to invest in.”