[aswihart]

We think data-as-a-service is a new and growing category, and this includes startups we would consider "pure" data companies (e.g. a company that sells data on airfares across the web) and companies that have been around for decades selling csvs that they deliver over FTP (e.g. a giant company like ADP that sells payroll processing data). Based on our backgrounds we have a fair amount of experience in the alternative data space, which is basically any data that might have some signal to a hedge fund that isn't market data. I'm finding that the providers in that space are interested in expanding their customer base to corporates (e.g. Walmart, McDonalds) whereas the providers currently selling to corporates are interested in expanding into alternative data.