SESAMm, a provider of analytics and artificial intelligence solutions for investment professionals and enterprises, has concluded a Series B funding round for over EUR7.5 million led by the Fintech VC fund of NewAlpha Asset Management and global investment firm The Carlyle Group.
The investment is intended to accelerate SESAMm’s global growth, allowing it to acquire talent and expand operations in Europe, Asia and North America. Plans for the funding also include developing AI-enabled research tools and dashboards for corporate customers, as well as continuing R&D investment in its Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing tools.
SESAMm will also extend its reach and address new market segments and use cases, including private equity sourcing and portfolio monitoring as well as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing and risk screening.
SESAMm’s sustained performance and this new funding confirm its leadership and technological edge in AI and alternative data for the investment management sector.
SESAMm’s CEO and Co-Founder Sylvain Forté says: “We understand our customers’ needs and challenges in using Big Data and AI effectively in the investment process. We launched our products TextReveal and SignalReveal to provide clients with relevant and actionable data and models, and plan to continue to improve these products in terms of speed, features, and addressable use cases as we did with our ESG monitoring analytics.”
“We’ve been very impressed with the market traction SESAMm has gained in the last few years” says Lior Derhy, Managing Partner at NewAlpha Asset Management. “SESAMm’s cutting-edge technologies and analytical tools have proven their effectiveness in meeting financial institutions’ market needs.”
As one of SESAMm’s major clients, Carlyle quickly moved from pilot to scale and has had access to the company’s innovative alternative data solutions since the start of 2020.
“Expanding our partnership with SESAMm builds on Carlyle’s continued leadership in leveraging big data, data science, advanced analytics, and machine learning to further differentiate our investment platform,” says Matt Anderson, Chief Digital Officer and Managing Director at The Carlyle Group. “We look forward to continuing to work with SESAMm to provide additive insights for our deal sourcing, diligence, and to help guide our portfolio companies in value creation.”
Havenrock, AngelSquare, La Caisse d’Epargne, BPI, and Banque Populaire, all early investors in SESAMm, are again participating in this funding round.
“We are particularly pleased to see SESAMm grow steadily and acquire new clients in the US, Europe, and Asia. They have been able not only to adapt but to grow in these difficult times. Their next steps are now focused on scaling, recruiting, and most of all expanding internationally,” said Omar N. Barakat, President of Havenrock.
Located in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Tunis and Metz (France), SESAMm works for a large array of blue-chip clients including large asset managers, banks, and hedge funds to identify opportunities in both fundamental and quantitative investment strategies. The company recently welcomed Dale Richards (previously President of Enterprise Data Management at Sungard and board member of Quandl) and Jonathan Neitzell (former Chief Data Officer at Goldman Sachs AM) as new board advisors, joining Mark Garbin (Independent Director, US Funds) in supporting SESAMm’s strategic decision-making and market expansion in North America.
Source: Private Equity Wire
