NEW YORK and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Kensho Technologies Inc. (“Kensho”), a leading edge provider of next-generation analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data visualization systems to Wall Street’s premier global banks and investment institutions, as well as the National Security community.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close late in the first quarter of this year or early second quarter.
A technology company founded in Harvard Square in 2013 by Dr. Daniel Nadler, a Harvard PhD, Kensho is a leading provider of next-generation machine learning and analytics to the world’s premier financial institutions as well as the National Security community. Its mission is to develop and deploy scalable artificial intelligence systems across the most critical commercial and government institutions in the world to solve some of the hardest analytical problems of our time.
A winner of multiple awards since its founding, Kensho has been named a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum and honored as one of the most innovative technology companies—of any kind—in the world.
Kensho will continue to operate independently in Cambridge, Massachusetts and remain a distinct brand.
“We are thrilled that Kensho will become part of S&P Global as its new class of analytical tools will help us accelerate transformation across our entire company,” says Douglas Peterson, S&P Global President and CEO. “In just a short amount of time, Kensho’s intuitive platforms, sophisticated algorithms, and machine learning capabilities have established a wide following throughout Wall Street and the technology world. Via this acquisition, S&P Global is demonstrating a strong commitment to not just participating in the fintech evolution, but leading it.”
“The additional resources of S&P Global, one of the world’s cornerstone data companies, will accelerate Kensho’s research and development of advanced artificial intelligence technologies for both Wall Street and the National Security mission. Kensho has assembled one of the most elite artificial intelligence teams in the world, drawing from the scientific community’s leading global research universities,” says Dr. Daniel Nadler, Founder and CEO of Kensho. “Combining our unique and industry-leading expertise in machine learning with S&P Global’s deep data sets, global-scale analytics platforms, essential benchmarks, illustrious reputation, and strong leadership team will allow Kensho to expand and innovate faster, further and in new ways. Lastly, this deal values Kensho at a premium to its most recent funding round.”
Dr. Nadler will report to Ewout Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer at S&P Global, given Mr. Steenbergen’s enterprise-wide responsibility for Strategy and Digital Infrastructure.
“Today’s announcement is an important step forward for our Company as we strongly believe that new technologies like artificial intelligence and natural language processing will revolutionize our industry in the future,” says Ewout Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer at S&P Global. “Kensho’s capabilities are critical for S&P Global to be at the forefront of the technology transformation taking place within the financial markets and it will accelerate multiple commercial and efficiency opportunities. S&P Global’s strategy is focused on strengthening our technology capabilities across the enterprise.”
In 2017, S&P Global launched a Fintech Venture Investment program and successfully invested in several fintech companies including Algomi – a London-based fintech company, Ursa Space Systems – an alternative data technology company, and Kensho. In February of this year, S&P Global announced its intention to acquire Panjiva, a fintech company that leverages unique technology capabilities to drive insight from a large, unstructured dataset covering the global supply chain.