GeoQuant Raises $4M to Use Machine Learning to Monitor Geopolitical Risk in Real Time

NEW YORK, June 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, GeoQuant, creators of a cutting edge platform for measuring political risk in real time, is announcing the close of a seed round of $4M. The money was raised from Aleph, an early stage venture capital fund based in Tel Aviv, as well as XL Innovate, an insurtech-focused fund in Silicon Valley. Michael Eisenberg, Equal Partner at Aleph VC, and Martha Notaras, Partner at XL Innovate, will be joining the GeoQuant board.

The financing will be used to continue developing the company's flagship software product, expand coverage areas and offerings, and grow its client base.

"We have been looking for opportunities to bring order to the political and institutional chaos affecting the world right now," said Eisenberg. "Globalization of business and Foreign Direct Investment is increasing while at the same time the world is becoming less stable. It is critical that businesses understand these risks and opportunities and prepare for them with real data, not punditry. We are thrilled to partner with GeoQuant and are certain that they will significantly help global businesses through these rocky times."

Adding Politics to the Equation

GeoQuant fuses political science with computer science to address current inefficiencies in the field of measuring political risk for investors, executives and other business decision makers.

Most political risk analysis available today is ad-hoc at best, based on cherry-picked data that is rarely quantified, and provided by analysts who have limited bandwidth and access to information--an unsophisticated strategy for an increasingly interconnected world, where the impact of politics on markets and industries continues to deepen.

GeoQuant is the first in the field to apply technology to this challenge, with a groundbreaking patent-pending software designed to scrape the web for large volumes of reputable data, news and social media content. This data is then enhanced by an in-house team of political scientists and regional experts, generating daily country scores and other high-frequency indicators that allow for more robust benchmarking and pricing of political risks around the world.

"By combining our expertise in political science with cutting-edge technologies, we are the first company to systematically identify, quantify and track political risks in real time," says GeoQuant co-founder Mark Rosenberg, PhD. "Our software is essentially a seismic monitor for global political risk. We provide investors with the tools to both anticipate the earthquake-like shocks of geopolitical instability, while monitoring the more frequent 'tremors' of shifting policies, regulations, social contracts and political coalitions."

For example, GeoQuant users can more accurately predict how a potential Congressional investigation of President Trump will influence long-term prospects for the U.S. stock market. Or, perhaps, how China's strategy in the South China Sea may affect global oil prices. Or how Brazil's ongoing governance crisis could impede growth in its retail and consumer sectors--all political events that can impact portfolio performance and business objectives across markets.

GeoQuant's analytic tool kit will also soon be made available to investment funds, financial institutions, corporates and other global organizations concerned with tracking political risk, via a customizable platform that allows clients to tailor risks to their own portfolios and business objectives.

About GeoQuant

GeoQuant was co-founded by Mark Rosenberg, PhD, a Berkeley-trained political scientist and former Director Eurasia Group, and Dor Kelman, a computer engineer with deep experience in fast-growth Israeli startups, who was previously lead engineer and first hire at Crossrider PLC.

GeoQuant's first hire is Ross Schaap, PhD, former long-time head of Comparative Analytics at Eurasia Group, who now spearheads Data & Analytics team for GeoQuant. The company's Tel-Aviv based engineering team specializes in data science, machine learning and database architecture. GeoQuant's top line Political Risk Scores and data streams for G20 countries are now also available on the Bloomberg Terminal.  

To learn more, visit www.geoquant.io

About Aleph Venture Capital

Aleph is an early stage venture capital fund with $334 million under management. Aleph partners with Israeli entrepreneurs to help scale them into large, meaningful companies and globally recognized brands. Aleph is an Equal Partnership of Eden Shochat, Michael Eisenberg and Aaron Rosenson.

Aleph invests in a broad range of software and software enabled services companies in industries such as Financial services (Lemonade, Colu), Transportation and Logistics (Freightos, Nexar), Sharing Economy (Wework, Honeybook) and Consumer Applications (Joytunes, Houseparty). To learn move visit www.aleph.vc.

About XL Innovate

XL Innovate is a venture capital fund focused on investing in companies that address the world's most complex risks with new technologies and products for the insurance industry.  Portfolio companies include Lemonade, Cape Analytics, Slice Labs, Embroker, Notion and New Energy Risk. XL Innovate provides companies with equity capital, unparalleled experience in building new ventures in this specific space, and access to XL Catlin's global insurance expertise and underwriting. To learn more, visit www.xlinnovate.com.

SOURCE XL Catlin

Related Links

http://www.geoquant.io