9fin: Data start-up raises £40m for credit markets tech

Financial data start-up 9fin has raised $50m (£39.3m) as it looks to grow a foothold in the market for debt and private capital research.

The London-based fintech announced a Series B round led by growth capital investor Highland Europe.

9fin did not disclose at what valuation it had raised the money. It was reported a month ago that the firm was in talks with investors over a deal that would value it at around $500m.

The company said it would use the funding to develop its artificial intelligence technology, hire for its analytics team and expand operations in the US, where 9fin says it is growing the most quickly.

Highland’s co-founder Fergal Mullen will join 9fin’s board as part of the deal, which brings the company’s total raised to $90m since its creation.

The firm is led by chief executive Steven Hunter, a former credit investor who co-founded 9fin in 2016 with university classmate Huss El-Sheikh.

Hunter, 32, also worked as a debt markets investment banker at JP Morgan during his early career, while El-Sheikh spent four years as an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

9fin is seeking to dominate the growing industry for tools that collect and analyse a range of market data beyond stocks. Its focus areas include traditional high-yield and distressed debt, as well as new asset classes in private credit and asset-backed lending.

Rivals include Reorg, Fitch and Debtwire, with debt information providers often selling their products for more than $100,000 a year per user.

“Debt markets are the biggest overlooked asset class in the world and yet they still rely on technology and information sources straight out of the 1980s – opaque, slow and messy,” Hunter said on Monday.

“There’s a huge opportunity to build the number one global provider of debt market analytics and bring debt markets into the AI age.”

9fin claims to have doubled its customer base to nearly 200 since 2022, including investment banks and asset managers with combined assets under management of $17 trillion.

It employs almost 250 people, mostly in London and Belfast, and expects to become cash flow positive in 2025. As well as financial analysts and lawyers, staff include journalists who break news on the industry.