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Infima Appoints Fintech and ESG Veteran Hendrik Bartel as CEO, Closes Early-Stage Investment Led by Radical Ventures

Tuesday, 02 August 2022 08:00 AM

Infima

Founded by deep learning finance pioneer, Infima emerges from stealth to bring predictive accuracy to securities investments

SAN MATEO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 2, 2022 / Infima Technologies, a provider of advanced solutions for fixed-income markets today announced it emerged from stealth and has raised a $5 million seed funding round led by AI-focused Radical Ventures. Additional investors include Franklin Templeton and ThirdStream Partners. The firm also announced that it has appointed fintech veteran Hendrik Bartel as Chief Executive Officer.

Infima is a Stanford University spinoff co-founded in 2020 by Kay Giesecke, a pioneer of large-scale deep learning systems in mortgage markets. Giesecke, who directs Stanford's Advanced Financial Technologies Laboratory and leads its Mathematical and Computational Finance program, is transitioning to Chief Scientist and Chairman of the Board. Infima takes AI a step further, bringing deep learning technologies to help fixed-income market participants in making superior investment, trading, and risk management decisions. Initially focused on the $10+ trillion mortgage market, Infima harnesses data of unprecedented size and granularity to provide investors, dealers, lenders and servicers with accurate and timely projections of future borrower, security, and market behavior.

Stepping into the role of CEO is Hendrik Bartel, former co-founder and CEO of Truvalue Labs, the pioneering ESG analytics provider. At Truvalue Labs, Hendrik oversaw the company's growth from inception to its acquisition by Factset Research Systems in November 2020. Hendrik will drive the strategic direction of Infima, drawing upon nearly two decades of experience leading high-growth technology companies and product initiatives.

"I am personally excited to see Infima enter this next chapter in our growth and have Hendrik take the reins," said Kay Giesecke, Chief Scientist and Chairman of the Board. "Combined with an affirmation of confidence from our investors, these changes signal that our solutions and our vision are gaining recognition from market participants."

AI-focused Radical Ventures led the seed round investment, which will enable Infima to accelerate its solutions roadmap, integrate climate risk coverage and quickly grow its customer and employee base across the entire mortgage-backed securities market.

"The massive mortgage market represents an enormous opportunity, as Infima promises to unlock immediate value for asset managers by generating more accurate pricing for credit markets," said Parasvil Patel, Partner at Radical Ventures. "As Infima continues to expand its offering, we believe now is the time to bolster the leadership team with a chief executive at the helm. Hendrik has a proven track record of successfully scaling operations and driving innovation at technology companies at all stages, and we are excited to partner with him as we look to Infima's next phase of growth."

"We have been impressed with Infima's analytical technology since our first investment in the company," said Margaret King, VP, Fintech Partnership and Corporate Strategic Investments at Franklin Templeton. "Given the tightening housing market and rising interest rates, we see enormous potential for Infima's platform, and we are pleased to play a role in advancing the company's ambitions."

About Infima

Infima's unique deep learning technologies are transforming mortgage security analytics. Its solutions offer actionable predictive insights into future borrower, security, and market behavior, enabling investors, dealers, and other market participants to make better decisions to drive performance. A 10x improvement in predictive accuracy vs. legacy solutions delivers superior security selection and portfolio construction to portfolio managers and traders. Infima currently covers more than 325,000 mortgage securities which are backed by roughly 25 million mortgage loans and represent a total current market value of almost $8 trillion. Infima has raised $5 million from Radical Ventures, Franklin Templeton and ThirdStream Partners. To learn more, visit infima.io

About Radical Ventures

Radical Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in people applying artificial intelligence to shape the future of how we live, work and play. From healthcare and financial services to infrastructure and manufacturing, Radical partners with entrepreneurs who understand the transformational power of AI. Learn more at www.radical.vc.

Media Contact

Elise Ouellette
Caliber Corporate Advisers for Infima
[email protected]

SOURCE: Infima

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Company Update
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