Finscience is an innovative startup founded in March 2017 whose mission is to provide alternative information to those working in the financial sector. What is alternative information? This information can only be obtained by applying artificial intelligence mechanisms to a data set called “alternative data”. Alessandro Arrigo, co founder and general manager of Finscience, explains that “they are all typically non-structured data that can be obtained in digital contexts and that go alongside the data usually used in financial markets for the making of investment decisions”.
To better explain, we can recount a real case, that of the “Diesel gate”. Finscience analyzed information signals for one of its clients. Its algorithms are able to distinguish in a specific piece of information the financial part from the non-financial one, for example, referring to the consumers.
“We found out that when the Diesel Gate case broke out there was negativity on the mainstream information regarding the Volkswagen results which was however offset by a consumer information analysis on the Volkswagen cars. During the Diesel Gate, in the main Volkswagen market, customers hoped to get a discount on their cars. This made it clear that the product was considered of excellent quality – Arrigo explains – in fact Volkswagen has recovered well, surpassing Toyota and becoming the first international operator”.
In just over a year, this startup has already reached a fair volume in terms of human resources, with a team of 12 people, focusing primarily on research and product development. “We are a product company, we provide software to our customers and analyze the computer signals that may concern companies, people or managers or social events such as Brexit and Spreads, for example – Arrigo tells – We have a data history of 18 months which in digital is really a lot. We have a very strong focus on data analysis given that among the founders there is also a former senior manager of Google Italia”.
For a startup like Finscience, being part of the Fintech District community is “an excellent opportunity”. Arrigo is expected to act “as a glue” between the companies that belong to it but hopes that it will also foster collaborations between companies and potential customers, startups and the local area.
“We founded Finscience in Milan and we would like to stay here even if we are a startup with an international vocation. We will distribute our product mainly abroad but we would like the heart and mind of the project to remain in Italy. The fintech district could help us a lot in this – Arrigo explains – in the internationalization phase there are great difficulties to be faced and not always is there adequate support for companies that have this objective in Italy.
Together with the Fintech District we would like to understand where the best opportunities are. The main markets are always like UK, US or Asian markets, but it would also be important to identify any specific priorities in our internationalization process.
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